
NEW CITY HALL-MAIN STREET FRONT. 



Tide IVorcester of Eighteen 
Hundred and Ninety- 
Eight, t^ -^ t^ ti -^ ^ 



3fift^ l^ears a Cit^. 



A Graphic Presentation of its Institutions, 
Industries and Leaders. 



Edited by Franklin P. Rice. 



WORCESTER. MASSACHUSETTS: 

F. S. BLANCHARD & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 
1899. 



Ca)V^V 



Copyright. 1899. 
By F. S. Blanchard & Company 






TWO COPIES REC 



-IVED. 



(( FEB 13 1899 ) 






INTRODUCTION. 



p^ITH the year 1898 Worcester passed the Fiftieth Anniversary of 
IaJ Its Incorporation as a City. The period of fifty years just 
closed has been one of continual accretion, rich experience and worthy 
achievement. Few municipalities have within any single half century 
been inore favored in everything which could contribute to material 
prosperity, local expansion, and real advancement in the line of human 
progress." In the growth of the city, the most sanguine expectations 
have been exceeded and the most extravagant predictions all but 
fulfilled. The point now reached in the onward march is one for 
special commemoration, marking not only the end of a notable period, 
but also the beginning of a new era with the opening of the twentieth 

century. 

Worcester has been singularly fortunate in its past, and the record 
of that past is secure, preserved in the numerous publications which 
have from time to time appeared. The purpose in the volume here 
presented has been to deal more especially with the Worcester of 
to-day, its condition and aspects, its various institutions, its prosperous 
industries and solid business interests, and particularly the men who 
have, during the fifty years, helped to make it what it is, and those 
who are making it what it will be in the future. 

To preserve and to transmit to posterity a faithful representation 
and correct picture of our city as it appeared in 1898, has been the aim 

of the publishers. 

F. S. Blanxhard & Company. 



EDITOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 



|HAT the expectation of a ready response to the announced 
purpose to prepare a volume commemorative of the Fiftieth 
Anniversary of the Incorporation of the City, and descriptive of the 
Worcester of to-day, was fully justified, the matter and proportions 
of this book are ample proof. The cordial interest and enthusiasm 
with which the project was received by our most prominent and 
intelligent citizens at once assured its success, and the labor involved 
in the organization and carrying out of the plan of the work has 
been lightened in no inconsiderable degree by their encouragement, 
friendly cooperation and material assistance. To those gentlemen who 
have prepared chapters on special subjects, and whose contributions 
have added so much value to the book, this statement particularly 
applies. I desire to express mv appreciation of the courteous treat- 
ment that I have in nearly every instance received in my quest for 
information, and of the facilities so freely afforded in every quarter. 
To the publishers, F. S. Blanchard & Company, my acknowledg- 
ments are due for their liberality in acceding to my wishes in regard 
to the elaboration and expansion of certain departments of the book, 
and for the profuseness and elegance of the illustrations, which have 
so largely increased the expense of the undertaking. The mechanical 
execution of the pages is highly creditable to their taste and skill. 

This volume is in no respect to be considered as a history, but 
rather as a collection of essays and sketches to illustrate with approxi- 
mate completeness the various institutions and industries, general and 
particular features, condition and aspect of the Worcester of Eighteen 
Hundred and Ninety-eight, with introductorv sections containing a 
summary of the administrations of the dift'erent mayors, and the 
statistics of industries during the half century. To these are added 
the biographies of past and active citizens who have been, and are, 
prominently identified with the life of the city. Incidentally more or 
less historj- is interwoven. 

As for my part in the work very little is to be said. I have pro- 
ceeded with the purpose and desire to make the book as complete and 



8 The Worcester of 1898. 

reliable as possible, and I have spared no reasonable effort in this 
direction. It is hoped that the volume will prove of permanent value 
and serve as a compendium of ready information. Some shortcomings 
are apparent. Failure on the part of a few to avail themselves of the 
opportunity given has prevented an adequate and equal presentation 
of the enterprises in which they are concerned, and I have substituted 
in a condensed form such facts as I could gather from general sources. 
Two or three omissions are to be regretted; notabh' an architectural 
and particular description of the new City Hall, which was expected, 
but which, after repeated efforts, I failed to obtain. 

Franklin P. Rice. 
December, 189S. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

Fifty Years A City, 17-75 

Administrations of the Mayors, from Levi Lincoln to A. B. R. Sprague. 

The Old Town and City Hall, 77-79 

The New City Hall, S0-118 

Laying of the Corner-Stone —Address of Mayor Sprague — Address of 

M. W. Grand Master Edwin B. Holmes— Contents of Bos. 
Dedication of the Building — Address of Chairman Sawyer — Address of 
Burton W. Potter, Esq. — Description of the Building. 

Semi-Centennial Celebration, ' 19-138 

Address of Frank P. Goulding, Esq. —Address of Col. W. S. B. Hopkins. 

City Government of 1898, 139-162 

Portraits and Sketches of the Mayor, Members of the Board of Aldermen 
and of the Common Council, and City Officials. 

Worcester — 1848-1898. Poem by Frank Roe Batchelder, 163 



THE WORCESTER OF 1S98. 

Educational Institutions, by Clarence F. Carroll, A. M., 167-197 

Public Schools —Worcester Academy— College of the Holy Cross — High- 
land Military Academy — Worcester Polytechnic Institute — State 
Normal School — Clark University — Private Schools. 

Public Libraries, by Samuel Swett Green, A. M., 199-219 

Free Public Library — American Antiquarian Society —Other So- 
cieties—Educational Institutions — Other Libraries. 

Literary, Scientific and Historical Societies, by Nathaniel 

Paine, A. M., 221-235 

American Antiquarian Society — Worcester Fire Society — Worcester 
District Medical Society — Worcester Agricultural Society— Worcester 
County Horticultural Society — Worcester Mechanics Association — 
Worcester Natural History Society — Worcester County Musical 
Association— Worcester Art Society— Art Students' Club — The 
Worcester Society of Antiquity — St. Wulstan Society — Public School 
Art League — Art Museum. 



10 The Worcester of 1898. 

Public Charities, by the Hon. Henry L. Parker, 237-245 

Hospitals — Free Dispensaries— Homes — Organizations. 

Worcester's Benefactors and Trust Funds, by the Hon. Henry 

A. Marsh, 247-257 
City Hospital— Soldiers' Monument —Bigelow Monument — Dewey 

Charity Fund — Bancroft Endowment Fund— Bullock Medal Fund — 
Free Public Library — Reading-Room Fund — Gifts by Isaiah Thomas 
— Public Parks — Curtis Chapel — Relief Funds. 

Worcester in the General Court, by the Hon. Alfred vS. Roe, 259-265 

Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders, by Charles A. Pea- 
body, M. D., 267-274 
Free Masons — Grand Army and other Organizations — Odd Fellows — 
Life Insurance Societies. 

^Iii.itary Matters, 275-283 

The Rebellion — Military Companies of To-day — Spanish War of 1S9S — 
Three Martyrs. 

Protestant Churches, by Rev. A. Z. Conrad, Ph. D., D. D., 285-291 

General Statement — Names and Statistics of Churches — Denomina- 
tional Strength. 

Catholicity in Worcester. Historical Sketch, 

Post Office Growth, by J. Evarts Greene, P. M., 

Socl\l Clubs, 

The Press, 

City Charter and Municipal Government, by the Hon. Rufus 

B. Dodge, Mayor of Worcester, 

MuNiciP.\L Departments, 

Public Health: Water Works, Drainage, Board of Health — Parks 
System — Police Department — Streets — Fire Department. 

Property and Taxation in 1898, 359-360 

Facts of Interest, 360-361 

Financial Institutions, by Charles A. Chase, A. M., 363-388 

Banks — Savings Banks — Cooperative Banks — Fire and Life Insurance. 

Public Service, 389-405 

Steam Railroads — Grade Crossings — Street Railways — Telephone 
Exchange — Gas Light Company — Electric Light Company. 

Worcester Board of Trade, 406-410 

Com.merci.al Interests, 411-434 

Development of Manufacturing, by the Hon. Charles G. Wash- 
burn, 439-447 



293- 


■307 


309- 


■327 


329- 


■330 


331- 


•335 


338- 


•343 


345- 


-358 



The Worcester of 1898. n 

Industries of Worcester, 449-529 

Statistics from 1837 to 1895 — Wire — Looms — Cotton and Woolen 
Machinery — Envelope Industry — Carpets and Textiles — Machinery 
and Tools — Agricultural Implements and Machinery — Paper- 
Making Machinery — Firearms — Corsets and Underwear — Boots 
and Shoes — Miscellaneous — Worcester Contractors — -Conclusion. 

Reminiscences, b\- Hannibal Hamlin Houghton, 531-536 

Biographical Department, 537-800 

General Index, 801 



PORTRAITS. 



Page. 


Abercrombie, Dan'l W., 


17S 


Aborn, James S., 


53S 


Alden, George I., 


540 


Aldrich, P. Emory, 


36 


Allen, Charles A., 


541 


Allen, Ethan, 


542 


Allen, George L., 


523 


Allen, Lamson, 


546 


Allen, William, 


523 


Allen, William P., 


523 


Athy, Andrew, 


54S 


Auger, Louis L., 


552 


Back, John R., 


145 


Bacon, Peter C. , 


22 


Baker, Peter, 


527 


Baldwin, John S. , 


554 


Ball, Phinehas, 


42 


Barnard, Lewis, 


412 


Barrett, Thomas J., 


141 


Barton, William S., 


154 


Batchelder, Frank Roe, 


557 


Batchelder, George E., 


157 


Bates, Theodore C, 


558 


Bemis, Merrick, 


560 


Benchlej', Charles H., 


161 


Benchley, Edmund N., 


2S1 


Bent, Charles M., 


37S 


Bigelow, Horace H., 


564 


Blake, George F., Jr., 


566 


Blake, James B., 


44 


Bowker, John B., 


156 


Boyden, Elbridge, 


56S 


Brady, John G., 


157 


Brannon, Henry. 


142 


Brierly, Benjamin , 


526 


Brigham, John S. , 


4S4 


Brown, Alzirus, 


571 


Brown, Edwin, 


570 


Brown, Freeman, 


160 


Brownell, Geo. L., 406, 


i 573 


Buckley, Thomas H., 


525 


Bullock, Alexander IL, 


32 


Burns, William H., 


574 


Buttrick, Albert C, 


577 


Carpenter, Charles H., 


419 



Carroll, Clarence F., 
Chamberlain, R. H., 
Chamberlin, Henry H. 
Chapin, Henry, 
Chase, Charles A., 
Clark, Jonas G., 
Clark, William L., 
Clarke, Josiah H., 
Coates, George H., 
Coe, S. Hamilton, 
Coes, Loring, 
Cofifey, James C, 
Colvin, Caleb, 
Comins, Irving E., 
Connelly, John H., 
Conrad, Rev. A. Z., 
Crane, Ellery B. , 26: 
Crompton, George, 
Curtis, Albert, 
Davis, Edward L., 
Davis, Isaac, 
Denholm, William A., 
Devens, Charles, 
Dewey, Francis H., 37, 
Dexter, William H.. 
Dodge, Rufus B., Jr. , 
Dodge, Thomas H., 
Downey, Daniel, 
Draper, Edwin, 
Draper, James, 
Drennan, James M., 
Duncan, Harlan P., 
Dwinnell, Benjamin D 
Eames, D. H., 
Earle, Edward, 
Earle, Stephen C, 
Earle, Timothy K., 
Eddy, Harrison P., 
Ely, Lyman A., 
Fanning, David H., 
Farwell, James E.. 
Fayerweather, J. A. 
Flodin, Ferdinand, 
Fobes, Hiram. 
Forehand, Sullivan, 



3S6, 



578 
20 
362 
5S2 
584 
416 
509 
406 
588 
160 
3S6 
406 
145 
2S4 
406 
466 
448 
54 

28 

596 
2S0 
406 
598 
140 
602 
604 
606 
6o3 
161 
406 
386 
424 
48 
610 
470 
159 
406 
612 
617 
386 
614 
616 
61S 



Foster, Calvin, 
Gage, Dr. Thomas H., 
Gaskill, Francis A., 
Gilbert, Lewis N., 
Gile, William A., 
Goodnow, Edward A., 
Gould, Rev. George H., 
Goulding, Frank P., 
Grant, Charles E., 
Graton, Henry C, 
Greeley, H. C, 
Green, John, 
Green, Samuel S., 
Greene, J. Evarts, 
Griffin, Mgr. Thomas, 
Grout, John W. , 
Grout, Jonathan, 
Hadwen, Obadiah B. , 
Hall, Frank B., 
Hall, G. Stanley, 
Hammond, Andrew H., 
Harrington, Francis A., 
Harris, Henry F., 
Hart, William, 
Hartshorn, Calvin L. , 
Hawes, Russell L., 
Healy, Richard, 
Heath, Frank M., 
Hey wood, Samuel R., 
Higgins, Francis E.. 
Hildreth, Chas. H., 2d, 
Hildreth, Samuel E.. 
Hoar, George F., 
Hobbs, Horace, 
Hogg, William F., 
Hogg, William J., 
Homer, Charles A., 
Hopkins, William .S. B., 
Houghton, Hannibal H. 
Howard, Albert H., 
Howe, John W., 
Hunt, George C, 
Hunt, James, 
Huot, Napoleon P. , 
Hurlburt Geo. B. , 



370 
638 
620 
3S6 
622 
36S 
628 

122 
632 
634 
386 
254 
202 
30S 
292 
281 
636 
640 
145 
406 
642 

68 
644 
406 
648 
650 
379 
146 

433 
142 
62 
312 
655 
489 
489 
423 
130 
530 
472 
660 
146 
146 
142 
156 



14 



The Worcester of if 



Hutchins, C. Henr>-, 406, 659 

liutchins, Fred L. , 162 

Inman, Albert H., 147 

Jacques, Urgel, 663 

Jaques, George, 246 

JefiEerson, Martin V. B. , 662 

Jillson, Clark, 52 

Johnson, Fred D., 147 

Johnson. Hannibal A., 41S 

Kelley, Frank H., 5S 

Kendall, Louis J., 147 

Kendall, Sanford C. , 14S 

Kent, Charles F., 474 

Kent, Rev. G. W., 667 

King, Henry W. , 66S 

King, Homer R., 671 

Kingsley, Chester W., 670 

Knight, Henry A,, 162 

Knight, Thomas E., 419 

Knowles, Frank B., 465 

Knowles, Lucius J., 464 

Knowlton, John S. C, 24 

Lamb, Matthew B., 674 

Lancaster, Frank E., 676 

Lancaster, John E., 67S 

Lincoln, D. Waldo, 40 
Lincoln, Edw. Winslow, 352 

Lincoln, Levi, 18 

Logan, James, 406, 4S0 



Lundberg, John F., 
Lundborg, Andrew P., 
Maclnnes, John C, 
Mackintire, Geo. W., 
Mann, Albert G., 
Marble. Edward T., 
Marble, John O., 
Marble, J. Russel, 
Marsh, Henry- A. , 
McAleer, George, 
McClure, Fred'k A., 
McCullagh, Rev. A., 
McMahon, Bernard H., 
Meagher, John H., 
Mellen, James H., 
Mcndcnhall, T. C, 
Merriam, Henry H,, 
Merritt, Wesley, 
Mix, Rev. Eldridge, 
Moen, Philip L., 
Moir, Alexander J., 
Monahan, Thomas, 
Morgan, Charles 11.. 
Munroe, Alexander C, 
Munroe, John P., 
Norcross, James A., 



14S 
''79 
422 
406 
6S1 
68 2 
544 



379 
158 
2S8 
14S 
149 
143 
40C 
f)S6 
149 
f>SS 
45 S 
423 
162 
690 
r.92 
f,95 
690 



Norcross, O. W., 406, 
Nourse, William J. H., 
O'Connell, David P., 
O'Connell, Philip J., 
O'Leary, John R., 
Otis, Harrison G. , 
Otis, John C, 
Otis, John P. K., 
Paine, Nathaniel, 
Parker, Amos M.. 
Parker, Edmund L., 
Parker, Henry L., 
Parmelee, Arthur W., 
Peabody, Dr. Chas. A., 
Peck, Charles H., 
Penney, Rev. Frank D., 
Perky, Henry D., 
Perry, Frank D. , 
Perry, Joseph S., 
Phelps, Willis F., 
Pickett, Josiah, 
Pinkei'ton, Alfred S., 
Potter, Burton W., 
Powell, Albert M., 
Pratt, Charles B., 
Pratt, Henry S., 
Pratt, Sumner, 
Prentice, Harrison S. , 
Prior, Wright S., 
Putnam, Otis E., 
Raymond, Edward T.. 
Reed, Charles G.. 64, 
Rice, William W., 
Richardson, Charles A., 
Richardson, Charles O., 
Richardson, George W., 
Rivard, John, 
Roe, Alfred S., 
Rogers, Thomas M., 
Rugg, Arthur P. , 
Rugg, Charles F., 
Russell, Edward J., 
Russell, John ^1., 
Ryan, James F., 
Salisbury, Stephen, 2d, 
Salisbury, .Stephen, 3d, 
Sawyer, Ezra, 
Sawyer, Stephen, 
Sawyer, William H., 98, 
Saxe, James A., 
Schervee, Herman, 
Shattuck, Moody E. , 
Shaw, Joseph A., 
Shea, John F., 
Smith, Elliott T., 



143 
149 
150 

155 
704 
506 
220 
155 
708 
236 
406 



520 
712 



71S 
141 
150 

56 
722 
724 
344 
15S 
414 
727 
406 

34 
730 
732 

26 
150 
25S 
734 
154 
737 
'43 
73S 
151 
364 
366 
741 
3S6 
406 
743 
744 
745 
1S7 
151 
748 



Smith, Jesse, 
Smith, William A. , 
Spaulding, Albert A., 
.Sprague, Augustus B. R 
Squier, Charles E., 
Staples, Hamilton B. , 
Starr, William E. , 
-Stevens, Charles F. , 
Stoddard, Elijah B., 
Stone, Arthur M. , 
Sumner, George, 
Swift, D. Wheeler, 
Swift, Henry D. , 
Taber, Jesse P. , 
Tatman, Charles T. , 
Tatman, R. James, 
Taylor, Ransom C. , 
Thayer, Edward C. , 
Thayer, Eli, 
Thayer, John R. , 
Thompson, Albert M. , 
Timon, James F. , 
Towne, Enoch H. , 
Turner, Charles S. , 
Upham, Roger F. , 

386, 406, 776 
Vaudreuil, Joseph G., 777 
Vaughan, Charles A., 77S 
Verry, George F. , 
Walker, Joseph H., 
Wall, Caleb A., 
Wall, George F., 152 

Ward, George H. , 282 

Warden, William A. , 427 
Ware, Justin A. , 406 

Warren, John K., 782 

Washburn, Charles F., 459 
Washburn, Charles G. , 440 
Webb, George D. , 7S4 

Webster, Charles S. , 783 
Wellington, Fred W. , 7S6 
Wesby, Joseph S. , 792 

Wheelock, Jerome, 78S 

Whitaker, John, 794 

Whitcomb, Alonzo, 498 

White, Frederick W. , 152 
Whitin, A. F., 3S6 

Whittall, M. J., 406-494 

Wilder, Harvej' B. , 794 

Williamson, Frank E. , 153 
Winslow, Samuel, 66 

Wood, Cyrus (j., 796 

Wood, Edwin H., 79S 

Wood, Oliver B., 798 

Woodward, William, 378 



752 
422 
. 72 
406 
755 
756 
75S 
60 
406 
413 
4S2 
481 
761 
763 
762 
766 
250 
770 
772 
144 
151 
153 
774 



50 
314 
332 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Allen Boiler "Works, 524 
All Saints' Church, 29S 
American Antiquarian Society, building, 224 
American Card Clothing Company, fac- 
tory, 46S 
Armory, 27S 
Art Museum, 232 
"Aurora" Block, 432 
Bank Building (Worcester), 373 
Barnard Block, 415 
Bird's-eye View, 210 
Board of Trade Directors, 406 
Boat-house, Institute Park, 355 
Boston Store. 420 
Brewer Building, 426 
Burns, William H., Company, building, 516 
Celebration extension Providence St., 40S 
Central Church, 2S7 
Central Exchange, 375 
Cereal Machine Company, factory, 51S 
City Bank, 377 
City Hall, old, 76 
City Hall, new, Frontispiece. 
City Hall, new, east front. So 
City Hospital, 23S 
Clark University, 194 
Classical High School, 170 
Coates Clipper Factory, 509 
Coes Wrench Factory, 503 
College of the Holy Cross, 1S2 
Court House, 214 
Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, 462 
Curtis Chapel, 257 
Curtis & Marble Factory, 476 
Davis Tower, Lake Park, 13S 
Electric Light Company, switch-board, 403 
Electric Light Company, building, 404 
English High School, 172 
"Evans" Block, 434 
Fire Department Headquarters, 336 
Forehand Arms Factory, 510 
Franklin Building, 320 
Free Public Library, 19S 
Frohsinn Club House, 338 
Frontenac Club House, 334 



Page. 

Front Street, 166 
Gas Light Company, building, 402 
Globe Corset Company, factory, 514 
Graton & Knight, factory, 521 
Hadwen, O. B., entrance to grounds, 641 
Hammond Reed Company, factory, 52S 
Hancock Club House, 331 
Harrington & Richardson Arms Com- 
pany, factor}', 512 
Harwood & Quincy, factory, 47S 
Herbert Hall, 561 
Hey wood Boot & Shoe Co., factory, 517 
Home for Aged Men, 244 
Home for Aged Women, 244 
Home Farm, 255 
Howard Brothers' Card Factory, 471 
Isolation Hospital, 256 
Jail, 274 
Kent, Charles F., card factory, 475 
Lake in Elm Park, 350 
Lake in Institute Park, 354 
Lakeside Boat Club-House, 342 
Lincoln Park, 32S 
Logan, Swift & Brigham Envelope Co., 

factory, 479 

Lovers' Lane, 272 

Lunatic Hospital, 21S 

Main Street, looking north, 1S6 
Matthews ^lanufacturing Company, 

factory, 50S 
Mechanics Hall. 226 
Memorial Hospital, 240 
Morgan Construction Company, factory, 504 
Morgan Spring Company, factory. 505 
Natural History Society, building, 22S 
Norton Emery Wheel Company, fac- 
tory, 501 
Nurses' Home, 252 
Odd Fellows' Home, 26S 
Odd Fellows' Procession. 270 
Old Mill, Institute Park, 36' 
Old South Church (on Common). 76 
Old South Church (new). 2S6 
People's Savings Bank, building. 376 
Piedmont Church, 295 



i6 



THE WORCESTER OF li 



Pilgrim Church. 

Plymouth Church, 

Polytechnic Institute, 

Post Office, 

Power House, Consolidated Street 

Railway, 
Reed, F. E., Company, works, 
Salisbury Mansion, 
Seal of the City, 
Sewage Purification Plant, 
Shelter, Institute Park, 
Smith, E. T., Company, building, 
Soldiers' Monument, 
South Unitarian Church, 
St. John's Roman Catholic Church, 
St. Matthew's Church, 
St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church, 
St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, 
St. Vincent's Hospital. 
State Mutual Building, 
State Normal School, 
Stoneville Worsted Mills, 
Svea Gille Club Hou.se, 
Tatassit Club House, 



2g6 
294 

xSS 
310 

396 
496 
331 
165 
346 
353 
430 
276 
300 
302 
299 
304 
305 
242 
3S2 
193 
488 

335 
333 



Telephone Building, 4°° 

Union Church, 290 

Union Passenger Station, 39° 

Union Water Meter Company, building, 507 

Wachusett Club House, 34S 
Washburn & Moen Mfg. Company, 

works, 456 
Washington Club House, 34° 
Whitcomb Envelope Factory, 4S5 
Whittall Carpet Mills, 492 
Whittall Spinning Mill, 493 
Whittle, James H., factory, 527 
Willow Park, 436 
Worcester Academy, 176 
Worcester Carpet Mills, 486 
Worcester Club House, 33° 
Worcester Corset Company, factory, 513 
Worcester Mut. Fire Ins. Co., building, 3S4 
Worcester Mut. Fire Ins. Co. , directors, 386 
Worcester Society of Antiquity, build- 
ing, 230 
Y. M. C. A. Building, 306 
Y. W. C. A. Building, 307 



LIST OF RESIDENCES. 



Allen, Ethan, Mansion, 
Bailey, W. A., 
Barber, Benjamin A., 
Bemis, Dr. Merrick, see Herbert Hall. 
Blake, George F., Jr., 
Blake, George F., Jr. (summer res- 
idence), 

Brownell, George L., 

Burns, William H., 

Burtis, George H., 

Bryant, George C, 

Clark, Jonas G., 

Goes, Loring, 

Dexter, William H., 

Fanning, David H., 

Farwell, James E., 

Fobes, Mrs. Hiram, 

Goodnow, E. A., 

Gould, George H., 

Hammond, Andrew H., 

Harris, Henry F., 

Herbert Hall, 

Hogg, William J., 

Hogg, William J. (Hillside), 

Hutchins, C. Henry, 



543 


Kinney, A. B. F., 


3S8 


318 


Knowies, Mrs. F. B., 


431 


319 


Lancaster, John E., 


677 




Lapham, Frederick A., 


317 


565 


Marble, Dr. J. O., see Allen Mansion. 




Munroe, Alexander C, 


693 


567 


Norcross, James A., 


697-699 


573 


Pierce, E. S., 


394 


576 


Piper, Mrs. Nancy H. S. , 


322 


443 


Pond, Wniard F., 


408 


357 


Potter, Burton W. , 


324 


316 


Pratt, Henry S., 


723 


587 


Rogers, Thomas M., 


736 


599 


Russell, John M., 


739 


611 


Sawin, Mrs. Elizabeth T. , 


410 


6i7 


Stevens, Charles F., 


760 


323 


Shattuck, Mrs. Helen A., 


746 


625 


Smith, Elliott T., 


747 


629 


Smith, Mrs. Jane, 


751 


447 


Taber, Jesse P., 


780 


646 


Warden, William A., 


42S 


561 


Interior, 


42S 


490 


Whitcomb, G. Henry, 


392 


491 


Whittall, Matthew J., 


495 


659 







FIFTY YEARS A CITY. 



|HE o-rowth of Woi'cester during the second quarter of this century 
was phenomenal. From a total of 3,650 souls in 1825 the popula- 
tion increased to 17,049 in 1850. Business, valuation, and returns from 
taxation kept pace accordingly. In 1825 the valuation was $2,437,550; 
in 1850 it was $11,082,501. During this period trade enormou.sly 
increased, and manufactures greatly multiplied in number and value 
of products, giving some indications of the still more marvelous growth 
which was to follow. In many other evidences was the general pros- 
perity ■ manifest and unmistakable. The reasons for this wonderful 
change in so short a time are plain. The opening of the Blackstone 
canal in 1828 gave the first impetus to this upwaixl movement, and 
the building of the several railroads from 1835 to 1850* continued the 
influx of population and business until Worcester outgrew the limits 
and the manners of a rural community. Under these conditions the 
general meetings of the voters were found to be unwieldy, and other 
difficulties presented themselves which could be obviated only by 
change of forms and methods in conducting the affairs of the corpo- 
rate interest. vSo new powers were asked and granted, and Worcester 
became a city. 

On the 8th of November, 1847, in general meeting, it was voted to 
choose a committee of ten to present to the Legislature a petition for a 
city charter, and also to draft an act in such form as they should deem 
most for the interest of the town. The members of this committee 
were Levi Lincoln, vStephen Salisbury, Ira M. Barton, Isaac Davis, 
Benjamin F. Thomas, Edward Earle, James Estabrook, Alfred D. Foster, 
Thomas Kinnicutt and Ebenezer L. Barnard. The efforts of these 
citizens were successful in the General Court, and on the 29th day of 
Februaiy, 1848, the act granting the powers and privileges desired was 
signed by the governor, George N. Briggs. On the i8th of ilarch 
following, the charter was accepted by the inhabitants by a vote of 
1,026 to 487 opposed. 



*The Boston railroad was opened 101835, the Western in 1S39, the Norwich in 1S40, the 
Providence in 1847, the Nashua in 184S, and the Fitchburg in 1850. 




LEVI LINCOLN. 



The Worcester of 1S98- 19 

The election of the first mayor and City Council was held April 8th, 
and to the srrrprise of many was closelv contested. Levi Lincoln, by 
reason of his long, varied and distinguished public services the first 
citizen of Worcester, had at the sacrifice of personal inclination and 
self-interest, but with characteristic public spirit, yielded to what 
seemed to be practicallv the general desire of his fellow townsmen that 
he should organize the City Government as its chief magistrate ; but 
no sooner was his consent obtained than opposition manifested itself, 
and the Reverend Rodney A. Miller, a worthy divine, whilom pastor 
of the Old South Church, was put forward as the candidate of the 
radical temperance and other dissenting elements, and received 653 
votes, which, with 45 scattering, brought Lincoln's majority down to 
138, with a vote of 836. vSeventy votes in a total of 1,534 would have 
changed the result. 



ADMINISTRATION OF LEVI LINCOLN.-^ 

April 17, 1S4S, to April i, 1S49. 

The new Citv Government was inaugurated on the 17th of April. 
The members of the Board of Aldermen were Parley Croddard, Benjamin 
F. Thomas, John W. Lincoln, James S. Woodworth, William B. Fox, 
James Estabrook, Isaac Davis and Stephen Salisbury. In the Common 
Council of twenty-four were such representative citizens as Doctor 
Benjamin F. Hey wood, Freeman Upham, Darius Rice, Horace Chenery, 
Alexander H. Bullock, Albert Curtis, William T. Merrifield, Calvin 
Foster and Thomas Chamberlain. Charles A. Hamilton was city clerk 
and clerk of the Board of Aldermen, and William A. Smith was clerk 
of the Common Council. 

The work of this first Citv Government was largely one of organiza- 
tion, and the task was undertaken with faithfulness and industry. 
Eightv-four regular meetings of the Aldermen were held during the 
municipal year, and in this board all the elaborate and detailed reports 
were prepared, and most of the ordinances drafted. The labors of the 
City Coiincil were incessant, and the objects of attention many and 
diversified : changes in the City Hall building to adapt it to its new 
uses were carried out ; the new road to Grafton was completed, and 
more than one hundred miles of highways was supervised and kept 
in repair, and several new streets were established ; a portion of Main 



*Levi Lincoln was a son of Levi Lincoln, senior, who was a member of Congress, attor- 
ney-general in Jefferson's Cabinet, lieutenant-governor and governor of Massachusetts. 
The son was graduated at Harvard in 1S02, was a member of both branches of the General 
Court, judge of the Supreme Court, governor nine ^-ears, member of Congress six years. 
He was born in Worcester October 25, 17S2, and died here May 29, 1S6S. 




HENRY CHAPIN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 21 

street was paved ; lots for school-houses were purchased in Uuinsig- 
amond Village and on Summit street. 

The financial interests of the city required special consideration. 
The treasury at the time of the change of government was empty, and 
there was a debt of $99,677. By the charter the city was required to 
assume all the liabilities of the town, the Centre School District- and 
the Aqueduct Corporation, f which amounted to the above sum. After 
providing for all extraordinary and running expenses, $9,000 was 
applied toward the redtiction of the debt. 

Twenty-three school-houses came into possession of the city in 1848, 
five of which were of brick. There was one Classical and English 
high school, and three were grammar schools. Thirty-nine teachers 
were employed, and the sum of $14,500 was appropriated for the use 
of this department. 

The Fire Department + was composed of seven engineers and 240 
members. Five engines and one hook-and-ladder carriage were in use. 

The Police Department was organized by the appointment of George 
Jones as city marshal, Frederick Warren, assistant marshal, and five 
constables. The first paid policeman was appointed in September. 

The Almshouse establishment consisted of a farm of 240 acres, an 
almshouse, brick hospital and other buildings, which had cost $15,000. 

The amount of taxes assessed was $52,222; total expenditures 
during the municipal year, $65,389. 

If ability, social position and real character are considered, this first 
City Government in personnel stands unmatched in the long line of 
succession to the present time. And a foundation was made worthy 
of the hands that laid it, and which has endured to this day. 



ADMINISTRATION OF HENRY CHAPIN. 

Two terms — from April i, 1S49, to April 7, 1S51. 

The city election of 1 849 resulted in the choice of Henry Chapin, S 
the Free-Soil candidate, who received 1,158 votes to 656 for Isaac Davis, 
the Democratic nominee. J(^hn W. Lincoln was the opposing candidate 
in 1850. 

Under Mr. Chapin's administration the Ash street school-house was 
built, and the erection of the new Thomas street school-house begun; 
the paving of Main and Front streets continued ; a sewer constructed 



* Incorporated in 1824, with authority to assess taxes for the support of schools, 
t Incorporated in 1S45, for the purpose of constructing and maintaining an aqueduct to 
conduct water from Bell pond for the use of the town. 
X Incorporated in 1S35. 
S See sketch in Biographical Department. 




PETER C. BACON. 



The Worcester of 1898. 23 

ill :^Iain street ; Chestinit street was extended to Pleasant street ; the 
stone bridge on the :\Iillbury road was built, and the aqueduct was 
extended into Pleasant street ; two new iire engines were purchased ; 
the office of city solicitor was established. The total expenditures for 
each year were, in 1849-50, $96,021 ; in 1850-51, $87,300. The appro- 
priations were, for the first year: Schools, $16,000; highways and pav- 
ing, $14,768; Fire Department, $3,779. For the second year: .Schools, 
$18,000; highways, $17,750; Fire Department, $3,600. 

^Ir. Chapin's radical tendencies in respect to the temperance and 
slavery questions excited a strong opposition among a certain class, 
which was manifested during the second year of his administration in 
darmg attempts at outrage. Bombs were exploded in the building 
in which the mayors office was located, and under the windows of 
the city marshal, fortunately without injury or loss of life so far as 
human beings were concerned, but in the first instance the building 
was partially wrecked. The principal and accessory in this dastardly 
attempt were arrested; the former tied, forfeiting his bond, which 
proved to be straw bail, and in the absence of the principal the 
accessory could not be held, so the prosecution was abandoned. 

It was during ^^layor Chapin's term that Father Mathew. the dis- 
tinguished apostle of temperance, visited Worcester. He arrived m 
the'city on Saturdav, October 20, 1 849, preached at the Catholic Church 
Sundav, and was 'received at the City Hall on ^londay. where he 
obtained many signatures to the pledge from his fellow countrymen 
who had become residents of the place. 

The Worcester Gas Light Company was formed June 22, 1849. Gas 
lights were used in the streets later in the year. 

ADMINISTRATION OF PETER C. BACON. 

Two terms— from April 7, i*5i. to January 3, 1S53. 

Peter C. Bacon," the Free-Soil candidate in March, 1851. was elected 
by a vote of 1,134 over 466 for Isaac Davis, the Democrat; 160 for 
Warren Lazell, Citizens', and 420 for Charles Thurber. John W. Lincoln 
was the Whig candidate in December, 1851. 

During Mayor Bacon's term the Thomas street school-house was 
completed at a cost of $13,500, and new school-houses on Pine street 
and Blithewood avenue were built, costing respectively $1,600 and 
$1,800; the aqueduct was extended into Chestnut and Elm streets; an 

* Peter Child Bacon was born in Dudley, Massachusetts, November 11, 1S04; was 
graduated at Brown University in 1S27, and practiced law at Oxford and Dudley before 
coming to Worcester. His reputation as a counselor was justly founded on his knowledge 
and sound judgment. He died February 7, 1SS6. 




JOHN S. C. KNOWLTON. 



The Worcester of 1898. 25 

engine-house on Carlton street was erected, and the floating bridge 
over Lake Quinsigamond, over 500 feet long, was planked anew at a 
cost of $1,100. Hope cemetery at New Woixester, comprising fifty 
acres, was purchased for $1,855. The city debt was increased $3,088 in 
1851, and $6,928 in 1852, bv necessary and justifiable expenditures. 

Under the charter of the city in 1848, the municipal year began the 
first Mondav in April. In 1850 an act of the Legislature provided 
that after the vear 1851 it should begin the first Monday in January. 
Consequently Mavor Bacon served only twenty-one months in com- 
pleting his two terms. It was his good fortune to welcome the 
distinguished Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth, who visited the city 
April 26, 1852, receiving here as he did throughout the country a 
grand ovation. Kossuth rode in procession to the Common, where he 
was introduced to the people by the mayor, and made a very eloquent 
address. He also spoke at a large meeting in the City Hall in the 
eveninof. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN S. C. KNOWLTON. 

Two terms — from Januarys, 1S53, to January i. 1S55. 

At the citv election in December, 1852, the candidates for mayor 
were Calvin Willard. Whig; Edward H. Hemenway, Free-Soil; William 
Dickinson, Temperance, and John vS. C. Knowlton,* Democrat. In 
1853 the candidates were Alexander H. Bullock, Whig; Albert Tolman, 
Free-Soil; William Dickinson, Temperance; and Knowlton. The latter 
prevailed in the first instance by a plurality, and in the second by a 
majority over all. 

Mayor Knowlton's administration was distinguished by its large 
expenditures and extensive improvements in the Highway Department, 
and bv other extraordinary expenses incurred, however wisely, in the 
face of considerable opposition. The paving of Main and Front streets 
was continued ; Mower's hill, so called, on Main street, was cut down 
and the vallevs filled up ; a portion of Southbridge street which had 
suddenly disappeared below the surface of the swamp solidly recon- 
structed ; Temple street laid out and made public ; two expensive 
bridges and the viaduct in Southbridge street built, and the culvert to 
take the water from Lincoln square constructed. The new Almshouse 
was built at a cost of $25,000. The Sycamore school-house was begun, 
for which $16,000 was appropriated. A survey of the Old Common 



*John Stocker Coffin Knowlton was born in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, in December, 
lygS, and was graduated at Dartmouth College. He established the Ji'oircsh-r Palla- 
dium in 1S34, of which he was editor until his death, June 11. 1S71. He was a State 
senator in 1852-3. and sheriff of the county 1S57 to 1S71. 




GEORGE W. RICHARDSON. 



The Worcester of 1898. 27 

biirial-ground, and a plan on which the graves were indicated were 
made, and the stones buried below the surface. In 1854 the land for 
the New Common (now Elm park) was purchased for $11,257, and so 
strongly was this action disapproved by some that the grantors were 
within a year or two unofficially asked to release the city from the 
contract, which, fortunately, they refused to do. 

The year 1854 was a turbulent period, and witnessed the repeal of 
the J*Iissouri Compromise and its attendant excitement, which was 
followed by the Kansas emigration movement, having its origin in 
Worcester. The Know-Nothing furor swept over the State, (ine result 
being a serious riot on the i8th of :\Iay, caused by the presence of the 
"Ano-el Gabriel," an eccentric character who assumed the mission of a 
specially inspired apostle of the new political party. On this occasion 
the mayor was obliged to call out the military, but no serious results 
followed. Another riot on the 30th of October was occasioned by the 
efforts of Asa O. Butman, a deputy United vStates marshal, to reclaim a 
fugitive slave. 

The :Merrifield fire, the most disastrous nf Worcester's conflagrations, 
causing a loss of half a million, occurred June 14th. This experience 
of calamities and disturbing circumstances was probably sufficient for 
a peace-loving man like ^^layor Knowlton, and he was undoubtedly 
glad at the end of his term to resign his office into the hands of his 
successor. 



FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF GEORGE W. RICHARDSON. 

Fnjni Jauuary i. 1S55, to January 7, 1S56. 

George W. Richardson," who was supported by the Know-Nothings, 
received 1,599 ^'otes to 288 cast for James Estabrook, Democrat. 

In 1855 the assessed valuation of the real and personal estates of the 
inhabitants of Worcester was $18,059,000, the population was 22,285, 
and the value of the manufactures was $4,000,000. Worcester was 
then the third city in the State. 

So large a collection of people and wealth in an inland city, having 
no navigable stream of water, was seldom found. The great diversity 
of the employments of its citizens prevented any entire subversion of 
its business then as in later years, in a time of great depression, and 
the manufactured products found a ready market at remunerating 
prices. 

* George Washington Richardson was born in Boston in 1S08, and was graduated at 
Harvard College in 1829, in the class with Oliver Wendell Holmes. He came to Worcester 
in 1834. He was sheriff of the county 1854-56, and was for a term of years president of 
the City Bank. He died at St. John, New Brunswiclc, in June. 1SS6. 



iV^v 





ISAAC DAVIS. 



The Worcester of 1898. 29 

In 1855 there were thirty-five schools in the city, and the amount 
appropriated for their support was $22,500. Fifty-six female and seven 
male teachers were employed. The whole number of pupils who 
attended was 3,330. Since the organization of the city in 1848, nine 
school-houses had been erected — one on Ash street, one on Pine street, 
one in Quinsigamond, one on Sycamore street, one at Adams square, 
one in Pond district, one in Blithewood avenue, one at South Worces- 
ter, and one on Thomas street — at a cost of $58,000; and fifteen other 
school-houses belonged to the city valued at $57,000. 

The expenditures of the year were as follows: Highways, $27,000; 
Fire Department, $7,467; Poor Department, $5,79i ; contingent ex- 
penses, $8,335 ; total expenditures, $239,664. The debt was $118,000, 
an increase of $20,000 over that of 1854. 

Two day police, fifteen constables and twenty-one night watchmen 
were emploved, under the orders of the city marshal and his assistants. 

Hope cemetery, containing fifty-three acres, had been purchased in 
1851 at an expense of $1,850. Since the purchase, there had been 
expended about $5,000 in fencing and improving the grounds, and 
constructing a receiving-tomb. The amount received for lots up to 
Januarv i, 1856, was $1,725.50. By an act of the Legislature, 
passed in 1854, the charge and oversight of this cemetery were 
placed in the hands of five commissioners, to be chosen by the City 
Council. 



FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF ISAAC DAVIS. 

From January 7, 1S56, to January 5. i''57- 

At the election in December, 1855, Isaac Davis,* Democrat, was 
elected mayor by a plurality of 971: P. Emory Aldrich, Republican, 
receiving 782, and William T. Meri-ifield, Know-Nothing, 745. 

Two new school-houses — one at Burncoat Plain, the other on Provi- 
dence street — were built, costing respectively $2,000 and $3,200. The 
appropriation for school expenses was $27,200. The office of super- 
intendent of schools was created, and Reverend George Bushnell 
appointed to that position. The expenditures in the Highway Depart- 
ment amounted to $17,000. Twelve new streets were laid out, and 
144 miles of highways kept in good repair. Drains and sewers were 
constructed in Elm, Pleasant, Pine, Summer and Laurel streets at an 
expense of $2,764. The New Common was fenced, and a street on the 
west side laid out. A two-story engine-house was built on Pleasant 
street at a cost of $2,000. The city debt was reduced $15,000. 



*See sketch in Biographical Department. 



30 The Worcester of 1898. 

(jn the questitin of taking Henshaw pond for a water supply, the 
vote stood 940 nay to 939^ yea. the vote of Ward 1. whieh would 
have decided it in the affirmative, not being counted. The estimated 
expense of this project was $340,000. 



SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF GEORGE W. RICHARDSON. 

From Jainiar\- 5, i>57. to January 4. iS5n. 

At the December election in 1856 Dwight Foster, Republican, was 
defeated by George W. Richardson by a vote of 1,492 to i,437- ^^i'- 
Foster, who afterwards achieved the distinction which his qualities 
merited, in the office of attorney-general and a seat on the Supreme 
bench of the State, aspired at the age of twenty-eight to the office 
of mavor of his native citv, and it was charged at the time that his 
presumption was checked by the hostile votes of those who, objecting 
to his youth, would otherwise have remained loyal to their party. 

The total appropriations for city expenses this year were $154,000, 
and for the several departments as follows: Schools, $30,000; high- 
ways, $20,000; poor, $8,500; Fire Department, $10,000; police, $6,000; 
lights, $3,000; salaries of city officers, $4,200. 

By an act of the Legislature more permanency was given to the 
School Committee by increasing the tenure of their office three-fold. 
The service of a superintendent of schools proved unsatisfactory in the 
respect of decreasing the expense of the duty performed, which had 
previously been discharged by individual members of the School Com- 
mittee, who had received one dollar for each visit paid, and adverse 
criticism following in consequence, the incumbent resigned in j\lay, 
1858, and the office was for some time vacant. 

The Fire Department at this time was composed of 382 members. 
There were six engine and two hook-and-ladder companies and three 
hose companies. There were twenty-five fire police and a board of 
seven engineers. 

The city debt was reduced $4,000, leaving it an even $100,000. 
This being a panic year, with great financial depression throughout 
the countr}-, Worcester suffered in common with other places, the value 
of property depreciating within twelve months 15 or 20 per cent. 

On the iith of March Mechanics Hall, now as then one of the most 
beautiful and commodious public halls in the United States, was 
dedicated to public t;se. The cost of this structure was $140,000. 

During the years 1856 and 1857 the bodies in the burial-ground on 
Raccoon Plain were removed to Hope cemetery, and the land devoted 
to other purposes. 



The WORCESTER OF 1898. 3' 

SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF ISAAC DAVIS. 

From January 4, 1S5S, to January 3, 1S59. 

At the December election of 1857 Isaac Davis prevailed over Putnam 
W. Taft, the Republican candidate for mayor, by a vote of 1,418 to 

1.331- 

In 1858 the valuation of the city, which had been based upon a 
speculative and fictitious appreciation, was reduced by a wholesome 
revision from $18,472,200 to $16,385,650. The tax rate was reduced 
from $8 to $7 on $1,000. The amount of tax assessed in 1857 was 
$158,996: in 1858, $133,776. The expen.ses of the schools amoitnted 
to $30,000; of the highways, $12,000. Ten new streets were laid out, 
723 feet of curbstone set. 1,556 yards of cobble paving laid, and 481 
feet of sewerage constructed. West street was extended at an expense 

of $342. 

The success of the Atlantic cable was celebrated on August 6th and 
September ist by the firing of a salute, ringing of bells, military 
parade, and illumination, at a public expense of $226.30. 

On the loth of November, Frederick Warren, the city marshal, was 
shot bv the accidental discharge of a revolver in the hands of H. W. 
Hendricks, a deputy-sheriff of Charleston, S. C. Ish: Warren died on 
the 13th, and a public fttneral was held on the 15th. 

On the first day of January, 1859, the engine-house on Pleasant 
street was demolished by an explosion. The building and contents 
were totally destroved, and the school-house and adjacent buildings 
badlv shattered. The cause was a leak in the gas-pipe. 



ADMINISTRATION OF ALEXANDER H. BULLOCK. 

From January 3. 1859, to January 2, 1S60. 

Alexander H. Bullock," the Citizens' candidate for mayor, was elected 
over William W. Rice, Republican, at the election in December, 1858, 
by a vote of 1,655 to 1,599. 

The amount expended for schools in 1859 was $35,000. A school- 
house was erected in Tatnuck, costing $4,200, and one at Northville 
for $2,550: $26,043 was paid for salaries of teachers. The mayor by 
a gift of $i,ooo,t which was the amount of his salary, established the 

* Alexander Hamilton Bullock was born in Royal.ston, JIassachusetts, March 2, 1S16. 
and was graduated at Amherst College in 1S36. He served in both branches of the 
Legislature, and was governor of Massachusetts 1S66-69. He died .suddenly January 17, 
iSS" Governor Bullock was a polished orator of the Everett school. 

t Increased by accumulated interest and the gift of S500 by Colonel A, G. Bullock m 
1S96 to S2.000. 




ALEXANDER H. BULLOCK. 



The Worcester of 1898. 33 

Bullock medal fund, the benefits of which were for meritorious pupils 
of the high school. Of late years the income of this fund has by 
consent of the donor been applied to increasing the high school library. 

A lot of land annexed to the City Farm was purchased for $1,000, 
and one adjoining the city barn for $2,000. 

The expenses of the Fire Department were $8,500. A new house 
was built for $3,800. The sum of $15,000 was expended upon the 
roads and bridges. The debt this year was $99,429. 

Towards the close of the year Doctor John Green and the Lyceum 
and Library Association offered to give, upon certain conditions, to the 
city, libraries containing respectively 7,000 and 4,500 volumes, to form 
the nucleus of a public library. The offer was accepted by the City 
Government, and an ordinance establishing the Free Public Library 
was passed December 23. A lot of land on Elm street was purchased 
on which to erect a library building, for $5,042. 



ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM W. RICE. 

From January 2, 1S60, to January 7, 1S61. 

In December, 1859, William W. Rice,-- Republican, received 1,679 
votes to 855 for D. Waldo Lincoln, Democrat. 

The population of the city in i860 was 24,960. The debt was 
$99,429; amount of taxes assessed, $140,745; valuation, $16,406,900. 
Expenditures for support of schools, $33,000; 75 teachers— 7 male and 
68 female — were employed; 3,400 children were in school constantly; 
there were twenty-three school-houses with fifty-seven schools; value 
of school-house property, $140,000. Cost of maintaining highways, 
$14,000; the Patch road was completed at an expense of $1,208. 
Twenty thousand dollars was appropriated for the construction of the 
Free Public Library-, $4,000 of which was to be paid within the year, 
and "Free Public Library scrip" was issued for the remainder, to be 
paid in yearly installments. The corner-stone of the building was laid 
July 4th. The total cost of the building when completed was $22,500. 

Appropriation for the aqueduct ser\'ice was $1,500, and the expense 
$3,300. The income was $1,600. The Council instructed the mayor 
to petition the Legislature for authority to introduce water from Lynde 
brook. In June a bond for the purchase of his farm was taken from 
Edwin Waite of Leicester, $10,000 to be paid for 130 acres. 

The first steam fire-engine, the " Governor Lincoln," was purchased 
for $3,000, and the services of Engine Company No. 6 dispen.sed with 
in consequence. This action caused much feeling among the members 

■* See sketch in Biographical Department. 



«A€^. 




.»*Sfi»^iJimitiiS(B-,'( 



WILLIAM W. RICE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 35 

of the old hand fire-engines, and they exerted themselves unduly in 
vain endeavors to throw a stream higher with their own apparatus 
and muscular power than that given by the steamer, but were obliged 
to succumb in the face of actual demonstration. 

At the end of Mayor Rice's term the sum of $7,000 was in the 
treasury, and $5,000 had been applied to the reduction of the debt. 

During the latter part of the 3-ear the public mind and business were 
greatly disturbed by the political troubles and impending dissolution 
of the Union. 



THIRD ADMINISTRATION OF ISAAC DAVIS. 

From January 7, 1S61, to January 6, 1S62. 

George M. Rice, Republican, was defeated at the citv election by 
Isaac Davis, Democi-at, by a vote of 1,648 to 1,472. 

At the beginning of the municipal year, business was prostrated. 
Real and personal estate had but a nominal value. ]\Iany business 
firms were obliged to bow under the pressure, and thousands were 
thrown out of employment. States were seceding from the Union, 
and the future of the city and the country was dark and gloomy. In 
April civil war burst upon the nation with all its hon'ors. The city 
of Worcester responded promptly and noblv to the call of the gm-ern- 
ment. At the end of the year one thousand men of the city were in 
the army and navy enlisted for the war. To arm, equip and uniform, 
to provide for families according to the State law, to care for the 
returned sick and wounded, imposed numerous duties and great respon- 
sibilities on the City Government, and were attended with heavy 
disbursements, amounting by the first of December to $12,259.77.* 

The valuation of real and personal estate was $16,230,600; total tax, 
$139,212. The city debt was $129,755. This included the Public 
Library debt of $14,435, and the war debt of $14,500. 

The brick school-house on Salem street was erected this year at an 
expense of $10,000, and was dedicated September 21st. 

A new road was made from James' mill to Auburn line, which 
involved the construction of a bridge over Kettle brook, the whole 
costing $620. 

The work of building the causeway over Lake Ouinsigamond was 
begun in the fall, and about one-third was completed at the end of the 
year. The length of this road was nearly 500 feet, and its width at the 
top thirty-six feet. ]\Iayor Davis, in consideration of the hard times, 
employed a large number of laborers, some of whom otherwise \^-ould 



■ Valedictorj- address of Mayor Davi; 




p. EMORY ALDRICH. 



The Worcester of 1898. 37 

have required assistance from the city, paying each sixty cents per day. 
More or less unfavorable criticism followed this course, but its wisdom 
and justice can hardly be questioned. 

The beautiful monument of Italian marble, erected on the Common 
to mark the last resting-place of the distinguished Revolutionary 
patriot. Colonel Timothy Bigelow, was publicly dedicated April 19, 1861, 
almost at the same hour that Massachusetts soldiers were shedding 
their blood in the streets of Baltimore while on their way to Washing- 
ton to defend the capital. The monument was the gift to the city of 
Timothy Bigelow Lawrence, a great-grandson of the patriot. 



ADMINISTRATION OF P. EMORY ALDRICH. 

From January 6, 1S62, to January 5, 1S63. 

At the December election in 1861, P. Emory Aldrich,* Republican, 
was elected mayor, receiving 1,71 1 votes to 1,600 cast for Isaac Davis, 
Citizens'. 

The war of the Rebellion was at this time the engrossing theme of 
every conversation and the first thought of evei'v individual ; sons, 
brothers and townsmen stood side by side fighting the battles of the 
country, surrendering every comfort, shedding their blood, willing to 
sacrifice even their lives, that all might continue to enjov in peace 
and safety those precious privileges of free domestic institutions and 
constitutional government. f 

The whole number of volunteers furnished bv the citv, exclusive of 
three months' men, to January i, 1863, was 1,620, between 600 and 700 
of whom enlisted during 1862. The total expenditures of the year on 
account of the war were $94,000. The number of families receiving 
State aid in the city was 525. 

The total amount assessed upon the polls and estates of the citv in 
1862 was $202,688, being an increase of $63,400 over the assessment of 
1861. Of this the State tax was $35,838, and the county tax $21,600. 
The rate was $12 per $1,000. The debt of the city in 1862 was 
$130,219. The appropriations for city expenses amounted to $145,250. 
C)ne extraordinary expense was the causeway over Lake Qiiinsigamond, 
the total cost of which was $25,997, requiring an appropriation of 
$20,000, the balance having been paid the previous vear. Of this sum 
$5,000 was ultimatelv refunded bv the countv. This road was com- 



* Peleg Emory Aldrich •wa.s born in New Salem, Massachusetts, in 1813, and died March 
14, 1895. He was for many years in law partnership with Honorable Peter C. Bacon, and 
from 1873 until his death was a justice of the Superior Court of the State. 

t Paraphrase of inaugural address of Honorable Danief Waldo Lincoln in 1S63. 



^iS The Worcester of 1898. 

pleted lune 27, and the first person to cross in a wheel-vehicle was 
Doctor John Green, the founder of the Public Library. 

The total expenses of the schools in 1862 were $35,75o. The average 
annual cost per scholar for the years 1856-9 had been $11.36. The 
annual cost in 1861-2, including salary of superintendent (Reverend J. 
D. E. Jones having been elected in 1859, the ordinance creating the 
office remaining in force), was a fraction less than $10. The number of 
schools in 1862 was 62: number of teachers, 83 — 6 males and ■]1 
females; number of pupils, 5,771: number of school-houses, 24. 

An appropriation of $7,000 was made to the Public Library, $4,000 
of which was towards the payment of the debt. 

The appropriation for roads and bridges was $17,500. Specifiic 
repairs upon the Paxton road cost $1,182; a double-arch stone bridge 
over the Blackstone at Quinsigamond Village was built at an expense 
of $5,670; a sewer of 801 feet was constructed in West street costing 



Extensive alterations and repairs were made on the City Hall at a 
cost of $1,100. 

The total expenditures for the support of the poor amounted to 
$9,997. Number of persons who received assistance was 1,308, of 
whom 1,243 were outside and 65 in the Almshouse. The average 
number supported at the Almshouse was, in 1853, 30; in i860, 31; 
in 1861, 33; in 1862, },■] . 

The Fire Department consisted of seven engines and 250 men, 
engine, hose and hook-and-ladder companies inclusive. There were 
thirty-eight alarms of fire in 1862, and property to the amount of 
between $50,000 and $60,000 was destroyed. The appropriation for 
this department was $ 1 1 ,000. 

The police force consisted of a marshal, two deputy marshals and ten 
watchmen. During a portion of the year two or more were employed 
as day police. Seven hundred and fifty-five arrests were made and 921 
poor persons lodged and fed; total expenses, $7,956. 

An act was passed by the Legislature in 1862 authorizing the elec- 
tion the following January of three commissioners, to have the sole 
care of the ptiblic grounds. This was accepted by a majority of 57 
in a vote of 451, and the board was designated the "Commissioners of 
Shade Trees and Public Grounds." 

In 1862 Honorable Isaac Davis tendered to the cit}- a deed of about 
fourteen acres of land bordering upon Lake Quinsigamond for the pur- 
poses of a public park. The gift was declined by the City Council. 
This land came into the possession of the city many years after, being 
inchided in the tract presented by Mr. H. H. Bigelow and Honorable 
E. L. Davis. 



The Worcester of 1898. 39 

ADMINISTRATION OF DANIEL WALDO LINCOLN. 

Two terms — from January 5, 1S63. to January 2, 1S65. 

At the city election in December, 1862, Daniel Waldo Lincoln '■' was 
chosen mayor by a vote of 1,247 to 948 for David S. ]\Iessinger, the 
Republican candidate. 

The amount paid for bounties to soldiers in 1863 was §5,910; aid to 
families, $41,137; the war debt was increased $15,402. 

Appropriations for the year, $140,370; total tax, $214,283; valuation, 
$16,698,750; city debt, $96,380; war debt, $1 18,436. Amount expended 
for schools was $37,836; a school-house at East Worcester cost $15,000, 
and one on Mason street, $5,619. The truant school was established. 
The Free Public Library received $2,500, the Police Department, 
$7,797; number of arrests, 1,526; the Fire Department, $14,827, includ- 
ing $3,500 for new steam fire-engine; the fire loss was $25,000. Cost 
of support of poor, $11,948. 

Fourteen thousand dollars was expended on roads and bridges. The 
aqtiedtict in Pleasant street was extended from Ashland street to West 
street 480 feet, at a cost of $780. Stone sewers in Crown and Ashland 
streets, and a brick sewer in Pleasant street were constrttcted. Lincoln 
square was raised and regraded, and IVIain street, from vSouthbridge 
street to Webster square, was widened and reworked; Pleasant street, 
to Oxford street, regraded and paved. This work was done in prep- 
aration for or in connection with the construction of the horse railway 
line. 

The bodies in a portion of the Pine street burial ground (which was 
opened in 1828) were disinterred and removed this year, and the land 
used for the purposes of the East Worcester school-house. 

The Worcester Horse Railroad Company was chartered in 1861 with 
the following corporators : Albert Curtis, Frederick AV. Paine, Loring 
Goes, William H. Heywood, Joseph Sargent, John C. Mason and James 
H. Wall. The capital stock was $100,000. James B. Blake, afterwards 
mayor, was elected president. Tracks were laid through Lincoln street 
from Harrington aventte; IMain street from Lincoln square to New 
Worcester; Front and Grafton streets to the railroad station; Pleasant 
street as far as West street. The Lincoln, Main and Front street lines 
were opened SeptemlDer i, 1863, and the Pleasant street branch the 
3rd of the following November. The railroad did not prosper under 
Mr. Blake"s management, and in course of time the company failed, 
and the property was sold under the hammer. The Pleasant street 



* Daniel Waldo Lincoln was a son of Governor Levi Lincoln, born in Worcester January 
16, 1813. He was president of the Boston & Albany Railroad for several years previous to 
and at the time of his death, which was the result of a railroad accident while attending a 
college regatta at New London, Connecticut, July i, iSSo. 



I 



/-. 





DANIEL WALDO LINCOLN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 41 

tracks were taken up. In 1 869 Augustus vSeeley of New York bought 
the property and franchise for $30,000, and for twelve years the cars 
were run over the limited lines with a seven-cent fare, and five cents 
more to get to the railroad station. The five-cent fare became general 
in 1 88 1, and this year the line was extended to Adams square, the 
residents in that direction contributing quite a sum towards indemni- 
fying the company. The history of the street railway after 1885 will 
be followed in succeeding pages. 

The centennial celebration of the erection of the Old South Meeting- 
House, in which town meetings were held till 1825, was observed 
vSeptember 22, 1863. The historical discourse was delivered by the 
Reverend Leonard Bacon, D. D. 

The vote for Mayor Lincoln at the December election of 1 863 was 
nearly unanimous. 

The appropriations for war purposes in 1864 amounted to $27,500. 
The war debt was $160,000; 1,300 men were raised, and $55,885 paid 
in bounties. 

Appropriations for city purposes, $173,500, being $33,129 over those 
of 1863; city debt, $290,000. The school expenditures were $49,294. 
The city now owned twenty-eight school-houses, seating 4,676 pupils, 
and valued at $180,000. To the Public Library $2,500 was granted 
for its support, and $4,000 towards extinguishing the debt. Thirteen 
thousand dollars was expended on the highways; $9,000 for support 
of the poor; improvements at the Almshouse cost $1,300. 

With 1864 the year of the Fire Department was changed to begin 
in January instead of May. The pav of the members, 272 in number, 
was raised; $6,000 was expended in building a new steamer-hotise, 
and all the expenditures in this department amounted to $25,000. 

During Mayor Lincoln's administration deeds of several tracts of 
valuable wood- and other land belonging to the citv were discovei-ed 
and the property taken possession of. 

The sources of public water supply of the city at this time were as 
follows; The Allen, or Spring water, supplying thirty-seven different 
pai-ties on Main street by an aqueduct two miles long from a sovirce 
near Adams square; Paine spring, from Laurel hill, supplying 125 
parties on School, Union, Main, Thomas and Summer streets through 
one mile of pipe: the Rice aqueduct, supplying sixty-one families 
near Grafton and Franklin streets ; Bell pond, or Worcester aqueduct, 
which contributed the more general supjDly, on which the citv relied 
for water in case of fire. This aqueduct had been transferred to the 
city by the company, which was incorporated in 1845 to construct it. 

For ten years previous to 1864 the pressing need of additional water 
.supply had been impressed by successive mayors. The necessity of 




PHINEHAS BALL. 



The Worcester of 1898. 43 

some action finally became imperative, and consequently, on the iSth 
of Januar\% 1864, the question, "Shall water be introduced into the 
citv of Worcester by authority of the city, in substantial accordance 
with the report of Phinehas Ball and the Joint Standing Committee on 
Water?" was submitted to the people for a yea and nay vote, receiving 
an affirmative majority of 582 in a vote of 1,146. 

The Citv Council adopted an order in February authorizing the 
mavor to piirchase the right to the waters of East or Lynde brook in 
Leicester, and to proceed in the work of introducing said water into 
the city, at a cost not to exceed $110,000. Early in March work was 
begun in the construction of a dam and the laying of pipe. From 
Mvrtle street to Gates lane a sixteen-inch pipe was laid, 13,162 feet, 
and from this point west 1,946 feet an eighteen-inch pipe, making 
16,162 feet, a little more than three miles. The line was completed 
November 1 1 , and the first water let in November 1 4. The capacity 
of the Lvnde brook reservoir was 228,000,000 gallons, covering an area 
of fortv-eight acres. The completion of the aqueduct from Leicester 
was celebrated November 22. 

On the 6th of February, 1865, an order was adopted by which the 
Bell pond and the Lynde brook aqueducts were united to fonii one 
department, to be called the Worcester Water Works. The distrib- 
uting reservoir was completed in 1867. 

In 1864 Dale Hospital for invalid soldiers was established here, and 
continued a few months. The old Medical College mow one of the 
buildings of the Worcester Academy) on Union hill and fourteen 
barracks erected adjacent were occupied. 



ADMINISTRATION OF PHINEHAS BALL. 

From January 2, 1S65, to Januarj- i, i366. 

In December, 1864, Phinehas Ball'-' was elected mavor, receiving 
1,664 votes to 1,598 for D. Waldo Lincoln. Mr. Ball was the popular 
choice, in consequence of his connection with the introduction of water 
as the engineer of the undertaking. 

The year 1865 was distinguished by witnessing the end of the war 
of the Rebellion, and the successfiil re-establishment of the government 
in all parts of the Union; the assassination of President Lincoln, and 
the return of the war veterans to their homes and peaceful pursuits. 
Worcester sent during the four years 3,927 men to the war, at a total 
direct money cost of $586,054. 



'See sketch in Biographical Department. 




JAMES B. BLAKE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 4S 

On the I St day of June the Honorable Alexander H. Bulloek delivered 
a eulogy on the martyred president by invitation of the City Govern- 
ment. '''The exercises were held in Mechanics Hall. On July 4 a grand 
ovation was given the returned veterans, with an all-day's celebration 
of national independence. 

The debt of the citv January i, 1866, was $433-777. as follows: City 
debt, $89,140; library debt, $2,637; water debt, $175,000; temporary 
loan, $15,000; war debt, $151,000. The valuation was $18,937,000; 
the 'assessed tax, $221,702; the tax rate, $17 per $1,000; number of 
polls, 7,851. There were 76 schools with 6,719 pupils, employing 93 
teachers, of whom 7 were males; the expenditures amounted to $54,3 56. 
There were 114 miles of streets and 47 bridges in the city. The fire 
loss of 1865 was $42,200. The engine-house on School street was built 
at a cost of $8,140. Eighty-eight thousand dollars was expended in 
the Water Department. 

Doctor John Green, the founder of the Public Library, died October 
1 7, aged 81. In his will he left $30,000 to the city, mainly to endow his 
department of the librarv. One provision is that one-quarter of the 
income shall be added to the principal every year. Honorable George 
F. Hoar raised about $10,000 as a reading-room fund, and this privilege 
was added to those of the library, the principal newspapers, reviews, 
magazines, etc., being supplied for public use. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES B. BLAKE. 

Five terms — from January i, iS66, to December iS, 1S70. 

The vote for mayor in December, 1865, was for James B. Blake,"'^ 
Republican, 1,971;' for D. Waldo Lincoln, Democrat, 1,420. Isaac 
Davis was the Democratic candidate in 1867, and J. Henry Hill m 
1869 and 1870. There were scattering votes only in opposition to Mr. 
Blake in 1866 and 1868. 

In 1866 the Citv Hall was altered and refitted at a cost of $27,232. 
Land on Dix, w'ashington and Southgate streets was purchased for 
school-house lots at a cost of $5,276. Machinery and building for pre- 
paring material for macadamizing streets cost $3,498- The highway 
expenses this vear were $25,846; Hermon street bridge and regrading 
cost $10,337. ' Number of pupils in public schools was 6,884; the 
average cost of tuition was $12.89. The school-house on Providence 

^* Tames Barnard Blake was born in Boston June 19, 1S27. He came to Worcester in 
1852 and was appointed agent of the Gas Light Company and superintendent of their 
works, which position he held until the time of his death, the result of a gas explosion, 
December iS, 1870. 



46 The Worcester of uSgS. 

street, bet^un in 1865, was completed at a cost of $10,743. The debt of 
the city was $470,000; total expenses, $260,283; tax assessed, $377,381 ; 
valuation, $22,599,850, of which $14,198,550 was real. The rate was 
$16 per $1,000; number of polls, 7,892. 

The police force was increased, and regularly organized, with a 
marshal, two assistants and twenty-five men. 

By a revision of the city charter the term of members of the City 
Council was extended to two years. 

The bell of the Central Church was broken July 4, while being rung 
to celebrate the national independence, and was replaced by the citv 
at a cost of $500. 

In 1867 the population was about 36,000. The city debt was $5.49 
for each person. The cost of the highways this year was $44,355. 
The distributing reservoir of the water works was completed and 
$12,415 paid on account. Salem square was graded at a cost of $4,173. 

On the first of June the cit}- sold to David vS. Messinger for $21,537 
the Main street school-house. The proceeds jxiid in part for the Dix 
street house, which was begun this vear. The Citv ( )rdinances were 
revised this year. The second fire steamer, the "Colonel Davis," was 
purchased. 

In 1868 the Dix street school-house was completed at a cost of 
$32,564, and in May the Lamartine street school-house was finished at 
an expense of $25,812. Land for school lots on Woodland and Edge- 
worth streets was purchased. 

The expenditures in the Highway Department this vear ann)unted 
to $64,166. Green and Lincoln streets were macadamized. A street 
from May street to junction of Beaver and Lovell streets was laid 
out, forming the first portion of the projected "Boulevard" around 
the city. This section is now Park avenue. 

The "betterment act," giving authority to assess half the cost of 
improvements in streets on the estates of abutters, was put in force, 
and has since occasioned more or less clamor and dissatisfaction. 

The building of the Water and vSewer Departments was erected on 
Thomas street at a cost of $12,470. 

The Fire Department as now organized was composed of a chief 
engineer and six assistants and 128 men. The apparatus consisted of 
three steamers with hose carriages, one hand-engine at New Worces- 
ter, five hose carriages and two hook-and-ladder trucks. The fire loss 
was $20,656; expenses of the department, $19,000. The third fire- 
steamer, the "A. B. Lovell," was purchased this vear. 

The co.st of maintaining the poor this vear was $13,907. 

In November the Worcester County iM-ee Institute of Industrial 
Science, founded by John Boynton of Templeton, was dedicated, and 



The Worcester of 1898. 47 

began its sessions. In 1887 tlie name was changed to Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute, and in 1889 an essential change took place, by 
which free tiiition to an unlimited number of residents of the county 
was no longer given, and afforded only to five students admitted at 
each examination. 

The first Swedes came to Worcester in 1868, and found employment 
at the Wire Works. 

In 1 868 a free public market was established on the north side of 
the City Hall on Front street. It did not prove a success, and was 
discontinued after a year's trial. 

In 1869 the total tax assessed was $469,953- The tax rate was 
$14.40 per $1,000; number of polls, 11,869. 

Authority was given by the Legislature, and accepted by vote 
September 20th, instructing the city treasurer to subscribe for stock 
of the Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad to an amount equal to one 
per cent, on total valuation, which amounted to $262,200. An asses,s- 
ment of $32,440 was paid. This road was opened in 1871, and proved 
a losing speculation. 

The school-house on Edgeworth street was completed, and $1 3.5^4 paid 
on account. A lot for a school-house on Ledge street was purchased. 

A contract with Norcross & Brother was made for the erection of 
a high school building on Walnut street, from plans by Gambrill & 
Richardson of New York, for $106,000. 

The cost of the highways this year was $93,014. 

In April, 1869, George Jacques offered to present to the city his 
homestead estate, comprising about seven acres, for a public park. 
The conditions were such as would involve the city in a considerable 
increase of its debt, and the offer was declined. 

In 1870 the population of Worcester was 41,105. The tax rate was 
$17.40 per $1,000. 

There were in the city at this time four savings banks with 
$9,085,119 deposits; eight banks of discount with $2,400,000 capital; 
and three insurance companies with $604,800 capital. 

One hundred and fifty miles of streets was maintained at a total 
expense of $152,454. Block paving was laid in Main, Southbridge and 
Mechanic streets, $37,738 being expended in this new method. 

The steamer -house in Lagrange street was erected at a cost of 
$10,000. The fire loss was $60,000. 

The expenses of the Police Department amounted to $25,027; 
number of men, thirty. 

The vote at the December election in favor of removing the rail- 
road tracks from the Common and ]Madison and Mechanic streets, was 
2,330 to 480 opposed. 




EDWARD EARLE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 49 

June 23, 1870, occurred the great dualin explosion on the Boston & 
Albany railroad tracks, near the Junction. One man was killed, about 
thirty persons injured, and many buildings were shattered. 

On Friday, December 16, 1870, Mayor Blake (who had been re-elected 
for the year 1871 ) went to the Gas Works to inspect some repairs. A 
stopcock had by accident been left open in the purifying house, and 
on the mayor's approach with the foreman, who carried a lighted 
lantern, an explosion followed, which demolished the building, and 
severely burned and bruised the mayor and his attendant. As a result 
of his injuries death ensued Sunday morning, the iSth. A public 
funeral was held in ^Mechanics Hall on the 22d. 

j\Iayor Blake's administration is principally distinguished by the 
inception and practical foundation of the present sewerage system, the 
construction of which was begun in 1867 under powers given by a 
special act of the Legislatrire, and accepted bv popular vote April 16 
of that year, conferring the right to appropriate certain water courses 
recommended in the report of a special committee made to the Citv 
Council in October, 1866. These main channels comprised Mill bnxik, 
9,420 feet; Lincoln brook, 13,566 feet; Austin street brook, 2,818 feet; 
Hermitage brook, 5,090 feet; Piedmont brook, 4,677 feet, and Pine 
Meadow brook, 4,356 feet. The walling of Mill brook as the main 
sewer was commenced in Green street in May, 1867, and completed 
to Lincoln square in 1870 — 2,238 feet open, and 3,669 arched. The 
first sewers were laid in the streets in August, 1867. The expense of 
the main sewer was included in the general tax, and the estates of 
abutters were assessed to pay for the street sewers, causing much 
grumbling. At first the estates were assessed according to the number 
of square feet, but now the assessment is for lineal feet of sewer. 

Another matter of interest was the erection of a soldiers' monument, 
the first action toward which was taken by the City Council in 1866, 
in the appointment of a cominittee which co-opei^ated with a citizens' 
cnmmittee of twentv-live chosen at a public meeting in 1867. Mavor 
Blake was chairman of this committee. A canvass for subscriptions 
resulted in a fund of $11,242, and steps were taken to choose a site 
and design. The mayor favored an arch to be placed on the Common 
or over ^lain street at a cost of $90,000. This proposition was rejected 
by a popular vote in December, 1868. Nothing further was done until 
after the death of ^Ir. Blake. 

It was during Mr. Blake's administration that "Nobility Hill" on 
Jklain street, from opposite the end of Southbridge street, running north 
to nearly opposite the southwest corner of the Common, was removed, 
and the grade of Chatham street lowered so as to bring it into Main 
street. 








GEORGE F. VERRY. 



The Worcester of 1898. 51 

ADMINISTRATION OF EDWARD EARLE. 

From February 6, 1S71, to January i, 1S72. 

On the death of Mayor Blake, Honorable Henry Chapin was appointed 
mayor ad interim tintil authority to hold a special election was obtained 
from the Legislature, and on the 30th of Janiiary, Edward Earle'^' was 
chosen by a vote of 2,078 to 1,742 for Frank H. Kelley. 

In 1871 the expenses of the schools amounted to $1 19,71 5. 

The police force was increased to thirty-eight men, and the expenses 
of this department were $32,000. 

The sinking fund was established July 24: all balances, all receipts 
from real estate belonging to the city if sold, and $30,000 yearly to be 
applied to the reduction of the debt. 

The City Hospital was established ]Ma}- 25. The Abijah Bigelow 
house on Front street was hired, and the first patient was received 
October 26. The expenses this year were $3,860. 

The fiire alarm telegraph was constructed in 1 871, and first used on 
the 28th of June. 

All the streets in the city were renumbered this year. 

The new Classical and English high school building on Walnut 
street was dedicated December 30, 187 1. It cost $170,000. 



ADMINISTRATION OF GEORGE F. VERRY. 

From Januarv i, 1S72. to January 6, 1S73. 

At the election in December, 1871, George F. Verry,t Citizens', was 
elected over George Crompton, Republican, b}- a vote of 3,589 to 1,423. 

In 1872 the expenditures were as follows: Highways, $124,812; 
water construction, $76,419; sewers, $152,916; schools, $144,352; police, 
$45,407; poor, $18,151 ; City Hospital, $8,090; salaries, $21,779; library, 
$10,723; Fire Department, $39,742 ; street construction, $72,203 ; inter- 
est, $136,259. The city debt now amounted to $2,456,788. The total 
valuation was $42,242,550; number of polls, 13,055; tax assessed, 
$761,130. There were 10,226 pupils in the public schools; number of 
teachers, 174. The fire loss was $26,235. 

The Public Library was first opened on vSunday, December 8, of this 
year. 

In March, 1872, George Jaques presented to the city four acres of 
land on Prince street as a site for the Citv Hospital, and at his death. 



*See sketch in Biographical Department. 

t George Franklin Verry was born in Mendon, Massachusetts. Juh- 14, 1S26. He was 
educated at Phillips-Andover Academy, and studied law, in which profession he became 
prominent. He was a member of the State Senate in 1S74-5. He died October 5, 1SS3. 




CLARK JILLSON. 



The Worcester of 1898. 53 

the 24th of the following August, bequeathed to the city nearly the 

remainder of his estate, valued at about $200,000, as a fund for the 
maintenance of said hospital. 



FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF CLARK JILLSON. 

From January 6, 1S73, tn January 5. 1S74. 

At the city election in December, 1872, Clark Jillson,-' Republican, 
prevailed over George F. Verry, Citizens', by a vote of 3,352 to 2,875. 

The year 1873 witnessed a recurrence of hard times and general 
depression of business. In further complication of the distress, the 
small-pox appeared early in the winter, and there were 125 cases in 
the next four months, eight of which were fatal. 

The city debt was $2,605,613. Total expenditures, $1,095,958, in part 
divided as follows: Fire Department, $75,961; library, $14,107; high- 
ways, $152,726; interest, $115,250; street lighting, $21,454; poor, 
$43,898; police, $58,595 ; salaries, $24,209; schools, $153,003 ; school- 
houses, $23,873; sewer construction, $76,576; water construction, 
$45,596; high service, $65,930; maintenance, $23,327. 

The high-service water was completed at a cost of $232,000; total 
cost of water works to this time, $1,076,531. 

The police force was now composed of fifty men. 

The act conferring the veto power upon the mavor was accepted by 
popular vote, and this right was exercised for the first time by Mayor 
Jillson in December, in withholding his approval of the vote laying 
out a portion of Park avenue over Elm park, but the City Council 
re-affirmed its action by a more than two-thirds vote. 

The ll'on-rs/cr Daily Press, a Democratic paper, was established April 
1, 1873, and was published five years. Its promoters lost heavily. 

The Worcester & Shrewsbur}- railroad was opened to Lake Uuinsig- 
amond, July 31, 1873. 



ADMINISTRATION OF EDWARD L. DAVIS. 

From January 5, 1S74, to January 4, 1S75. 

Edward L. Davis,* the Citizens' candidate, was elected over Mayor 
Jillson by a majoritv of sixty-five at the December election of 1873. 

The total valuation in 1S74 was $49,185,554. The tax rate was 
$16.80 per $1,000; number of polls, 13,341. Expenditures were: For 
schools, $148,455; highways, $155,146; interest, $147,204; police, 

* See sketch in Biographical Department. 



1^ 








EDWARD L. DAVIS. 



The Worcester of 1898. 55 

$54,096; street lights, $27,957 ; Fire Department, $62,925; sewer con- 
struction, S53>634; water construction, $106,562. 

The City Hospital was removed from the corner of Front and 
Church streets to the Jaques homestead on Wellington street, on the 
1st of January. 

The Soldiers' Monument was completed after a design by Randolph 
Rogers, and was dedicated July 15. It cost $50,000, of which $35,000 
was appropriated by the City Council. 

The State Normal School opened its sessions September 15. It was 
located in Worcester in 1871 on condition that the citv should pay 
the Board of Education $15,000, the State making an additional appro- 
priation of $60,000. 

The Worcester Board of Trade formally opened its headquarters 
March 3, 1874. It was incorporated May 14, 1875. The Board was 
inactive from 1880 ti) 1891, when it was resuscitated. 

^Ir. Davis had to contend with serious difficulties consequent to the 
financial panic of 1873, the business depression manifesting itself in 
public as well as in private enterprises. In his conduct of municipal 
alfairs he exercised a rigid but judicious economy, and he was able to 
institute and carry forward public works, notably the extension of Park 
avenue, without exceeding the amount supplied by the revenues of 
the vear. These needed improvements furnished work and support 
to worthv and industrious citizens who otherwise wotild have expe- 
rienced distress during the hard times, and the desired end was accom- 
plished without increasing the indebtedness of the city. 



SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF CLARK JILLSON. 

Two terms — from January 4, 1S75, to January- i, 1S77. 

In December, 1874, Mr. Jillson prevailed over Mr. Davis and 
reassumed the office of mayor in January, 1875. At the next election 
George F. Verry was the opposing candidate. 

In 1875 the population of Worcester reached 49,317. The debt was 
$2,589,700. The expenditures for schools amounted to $153,210; for 
highways, $63,776. 

The Armory on Waldo street was erected at a cost of $49,392. It 
proved a bad bargain for the city, and had to be abandoned by the 
militia later as unsafe in consequence of poor construction. 

The Union railway station at Washington square was completed and 
opened for use August 15, 1875. 

On Mav 28, Taylor's building, opposite the Common, was burned, the 
most destructive conflagration since the Merrifield fire of 1854. This 



r 




CHARLES B. PRATT. 



The Worcester of 1898. 57 

fire led to the formation of the Insurance Fire Patrol, an efficient 
adjunct to the Fire Department, which was incorporated in 1875. At 
first it was wholly supported bv insurance companies, but an annual 
gi-ant was later made by the city, and is continued. The fire apparatus 
at the time oi the Taylor fire consisted of four steamers, eight hose 
carriages, two hook-and-ladder trucks and a Babcock fire extin- 
guisher. 

On January 23 of this 3-ear was formed The Worcester Society of 
Antiquity, and to this institution the city is largely indebted for the 
perpetuation of its early records, all of which, relating to the period of 
the proprietary and town governments, have been published by this 
society. 

The dam at the Lvnde brook reservoir was carried awav bv a freshet 
on the 30th of March, 1876, and was reconstructed dirring that year. 
The aggregate damages paid by the city, including the cost of the 
new dam, amounted to $227,000. 

The expenditures this year were in part as follows: Schools, §149,- 
593; highways, $78,805; library, $14,147: poor, $14,838; police, $51,236; 
Fire Department, $40,741 ; interest, $121,136. 

The viaduct over Alechanic and Front streets, to connect the northern 
railroads with the Union station, was completed in 1876. 

1876 was the year of the nation's centennial, and Worcester entered 
into the spirit of the occasion with ardor. A grand celebration was 
held July 4, and the Centennial oration was given by Honorable Ben- 
jamin F. Thomas, a native of the place, and a grandson of the patriot 
printer, Isaiah Thomas. 



ADMINISTRATION OF CHARLES B. PRATT. 

Three terms — from January i, 1S77. to January 5, iSSo. 

In December, 1876, Charles B. Pratt,- Democrat, received 3,653 votes 
for mayor to 3.373 cast for Joseph H. Walker, Republican. 

The city debt in 1877 was $2,492,300. The expenditures in part 
were as follows: Fire Department, $39,760; highways, $50,594 : police, 
$45,289; salaries, $21,442. 

A Board of Commissioners of the Jaques Fund was constituted this 
year. 

The Board of Health was established. 

Mounted police were in service during the year. 

The floating island in Bell pond was removed at an expense of 
$2,758. 



*See sketch in Biographical Department. 



«rx 




FRANK H. KELLEY. 



The Worcester of 1898. 59 

The railrnad tracks on the Common were removed November 21, 1877. 

In 187S the debt was $2,509,200. The expenditures for schools 
amounted to $142,809: for highways, $50,982. The Winslow street 
school-house was built. Hope eemeterv was enlarged ten or twelve 
acres, and the remains in the Mechanic street Ijurial-ground mostly 
removed thither; 1,116 bodies were taken from the old ground. 

The construction of the Island sewer was undertaken, and $104,410 
expended. 

In 1879 there were 142 miles of public streets and 55 miles of private 
streets; 19 stone arch bridges, 16 wooden bridges, and 2 iron bridges; 
690 gas lamps and 756 gasolene lamps; expense of lighting streets, 
$27,298; "]"] miles of main and distributing water-pipes, which had cost 
with reservoirs, etc., $1,250,000; water revenue in 1879, $73,296; 37.69 
miles sewer. The Island sewer was completed at a cost of $203,066. 
School expenses, $142,070. The hose-house on Grafton street was built 
at an expense of $4,178. Part of Main street was repaved with small 
square paving. 

During the three years of j\Iavor Pratt's administration there was a 
net increase of the city debt $13,021, but $650,000 of liabilities was 
paid, including the claims on account of damages by the Lynde brook 
disaster, which were mostly settled out of court. vSchool-houses on 
Winslow and Grafton streets and at Lake View were erected at a total 
cost of $31,684. 

The extension of Foster street, in consec^uence of the building of the 
Union railroad station at Washington square, proved a bone of con- 
tention, and was accomplished only after much delay. The cost of 
working the street was $140,000; but incidental expenses of relocating 
the railroads, building the stations, the viaduct, and making necessary 
changes, swelled the sum total to $1,518,508. It is worth while to 
consider in this connection whether it would not have been wise to 
have built the passenger stati(_)n on the site of the old one on Foster 
street, as already the question of removal of the present one to some 
other place is being discussed. The value of the time which would 
have been saved in the last twenty years is the difference between that 
of five and forty-five minutes in going and coming to and from the 
station for every traveler. 



ADMINISTRATION OF FRANK H. KELLEY. 

Two terms — from January 5, iSSo, to January 3, iSS:. 

At the citv election in December, 1879, Frank H. Kelley,* Citizens', 
received 2,971 votes for mayor to 2,716 for Elijah B. Stoddard, 



■ See sketch in Biographical Department. 




ELIJAH B. STODDARD. 



The Worcester of 1898. 61 

Republican; 1,087 f<'i" Horace H. Bigelow, and 99 for A. J. 
Marble. 

The population of the city in 1S80 was 58,291. Expenditures in 
different departments were as follows: Schools, $143,839; highways, 
$52,534; police, $54,894; Fire Department, $46,446. The debt was 
$2,542,300. 

Fifteen private streets were made public. The Citv Ordinances were 
revised. The City Hospital on Prince street was begun. 

In 1881 the debt was $2,580,200. Highway expenses, $73,914; 
schools, $153,000; Fire Department, $44,951, and $1,200 for Fire 
Patrol. 

A controversy in consequence of defiling of Blackstone river with 
sewage engaged public attention. 

The City Hospital was completed and occupied December 8. 



ADMINISTRATION OF ELIJAH B. STODDARD. 

From Jiinuary 3, 1SS2, to Jiimiarv i, 1SS3. 

In December, iSSi, Elijah B. StoddaiTl- received 2,971 votes for 
mayor, as the Citizens' candidate; 1,571 were cast for Calvin L. Harts- 
horn, although he declined a nomination. 

The debt at the beginning of 1882 was $2,582,300, an increase of 
$70,400 in a year. Expenditures were: For schools, $173,729; high- 
ways, $132,572. 

There were in the public schools 11,887 P'-^pil''^, at an expense of 
$19.18 each; 222 teachers were emjjloyed. The Thomas street school- 
house was enlarged at an expense of $10,324. 

The construction of the Pine Meadow sewer was successfully and 
economically executed. This relieved the East Worcester district. 
Summer street was relocated at an expense of $53,107 for construction, 
and $20,338 damages. 

ADMINISTRATION OF SAMUEL E. HILDRETH. 

From January i, 1S83, to January 7, 18S4. 

In December, 1882, Samuel E; Hildreth,t Republican, was elected 
over Mayor Stoddard by a majority of forty-four in a total vote of 
8,282. 



* Elijah Brigham Stoddard was born in Upton, Massachusetts, June 5, 1S26, and gradu- 
ated at Brown University in 1847. He has served in both branches of the Legislature,, 
and is a member of the State Board of Education. 

f See sketch in Biographical Department. 




SAMUEL E. HILDRETH. 



The Worcester of 1898. 63 

The city debt in 1883 was §2,652,700. Expenditures in several of the 
departments were as follows: .Schools, $183,365; highways, $109,753; 
Fire Department, $50,812; police, seventy in number, $78,988; poor, 
$46,445; street lights, $42,821. 

The Millbury street school-house was built at a cost of $31,503, and 
the Winslow street school enlarged at a cost of $16,413. 

On the 6th of February the order passed to take Tatnuck brook f(_)r 
additional water supply. The necessary work was completed Novem- 
ber 27, the cost being $223,574. Total cost of water works to date, 
$1,603,988. 

The Pine Meadow sewer was completed at a cost of $15,000. 

The city purchased the first steam-roller for use in the Highway 
Department. Electric lights were first used in the streets. Police 
Station No. 2 was established in the "Island" district, with head- 
qtiarters in the Lamartine street engine-house. 



ADMINISTRATION OF CHARLES G. REED. 

Two terms — from January 7, 1SS4, to January 4. 1SS6. 

Charles G. Reed," the Citizens' candidate, prevailed in 1883 and 1884 
over Samuel E. Hildreth, the Republican nominee. 

In 1884 the debt was $3,112,700. There were eleven trust ftmds 
belonging to the city, amounting to $219,076. The income of these 
funds was applied to specific purposes. Expenditures in several depart- 
ments were: vSchools, $219,341 ; highways, $1 17,441 ; Fire Department, 
$52,105; police, $74,036: library, $16,082. 

Honorable Edward L. Davis and Mr. Horace H. Bigelow presented 
to the city the land now forming Lake park, and Mr. Davis gave in 
addition $5,000 to be applied to improving the park. 

November 4, the act empowering the city to acquire and lav out a 
S3'stem of parks was accepted by popular vote — yes, 5,094; no, 181. 

The Bi-Centennial celebration of the naming of Worcester was one of 
the most successful of our commemorative occasions. It was observed 
with an oration by Senator Hoar, and addresses bv !Mavor Reed, Gov- 
ernor Robinson and (yeneral Devens, in ^lechanics Hall, October 14, 
and a grand military and civic parade October i 5. 

In 1885 the population of Worcester was 68,380. The valuation was 
$82,714,391; taxes assessed, $1,014,554. The tax rate was $18, and 
the debt was $3,389,700. Net debt decreased $33,230. The school 
expenses amounted to $213,076. Niimber of school children, 12,961. 

The Commission of Shade Trees and Public Grounds was re-organized 
with five members, and name chaneed to Parks Commission. 



■ See sketch in Biographical Department. 




CHARLES G. REED. 



The Worcester of i8g8. 65 

The police headquarters and the Central District Court were removed 
from the City Hall building to the discarded Armory in Waldo street. 

]\Iayor Reed's financial policy was "to pay as you go," and to reduce 
the city debt. He vetoed the reported appropriation bill of 1884, and 
his veto was sustained. He presented and advocated the plan of our 
present police and signal system, but withdrew it to keep down the 
taxes until the amount of the city's liability for damages in the taking 
of Tatnuck brook might be determined. At his re-election in Decem- 
ber, 1884, he received the largest vote cast for a mayor to that time. 
He vetoed the building of the Fire Department building as being 
against the policy of putting costs of biiildings into the next vear's 
taxes. 



ADMINISTRATION OF SAMUEL WINSLOW.-^ 

Four terms — from January 4, 1SS6, to January 6, 1S90. 

Charles B. Pratt, 1885; John R. Thayer, 1886, and Andrew Athy, 
1887, were the Democratic candidates during this period. In 1888 
L. G. White was the Citizens' nominee for mayor. 

The expenses in some of the departments in 1886 were as follows: 
Schools, $226,680; highways, $103,058; Fire Departinent, $70,207; 
street lights, $53,420; there were 112 electric lights, 650 gas lights, 
1,449 gasolene lamps; police, $78,547; the force numbered 80. 

The act requiring the city to establish a system of sewage purifica- 
tion within five vears, to free the Blackstone river from pollution, 
passed the Legislature. 

The Worccslcr Daily Tclcgraui appeared Mav 19, 1886. The SiDi'day 
Telegram was first issued in 1884. 

In 1887 the schools cost $241,505 ; highways, $106,016; City Hospital, 
$15,378; interest, $105,783. 

The title and interest of the First Parish in that part of the Common 
occupied by their meeting-house were taken in exercise of the authority 
vested in the city by the Legislature of 1885, and the venerable Old 
.South Church w^as removed, $115,395 being paid in compromise, after 
an award to the parish of $148,409 by a commission. The proposition 
to take the parish rights in 1872 was voted down, 2,480 to 2,297. 

In 1888 $75,000 was boiTowed to begin the sewage purification 
works at (Juinsigamond. The parks loan of $200,000 was authorized, 
for the purpose of acquiring certain tracts for public use. 

The valuation was $64,498,386; fire loss, $29,876. The schools 
cost $266,554; the highways, $134,091 ; the Fire Department, $61,126; 
police, $95,703. 



* See sketch in Biographical Department. 




SAMUEL WINSLOW. 



The Worcester of 1898. 67 

There were 142 miles of public and fifty miles of private streets; 
1 10.10 miles of main water-pipe. 

In 1889 the gross debt was $3,595,700. The valuation was $69,350,- 
000. During the years 1886-89 1,481 new buildings were erected in the 
city. Clark University was opened, and the Salisbury Laboratories at 
the Polytechnic Institute built. Land for a new high school house 
was purchased for $49,500. School-houses on Freeland and Salisbury 
streets, Sunnyside, Greendale, Adams square, Jamesville, and Bloom- 
ingdale were erected at a total cost of $133,475; fire-engine houses on 
Cambridge and Woodland streets were built. The Citv Hospital was 
enlarged and further endowed, and a hospital for contagious diseases 
erected. A lot for a new public library building was purchased. 
North, i\Iessinger hill, East Worcester, Crompton, L^niversity, Newton 
hill and Institute parks were opened. The last was a gift from Hon- 
orable Stephen Salisburv. who has improved and beautified it at his 
own expense. 

In 1885 a new street railway company, known as the Citizens', sud- 
denly appeared and gained a franchise that considerably more than 
doubled the miles of track. Honorable Charles B. Pratt was president 
of the new corporation. During the summer of 1886 tracks were laid 
in Pleasant, Southbridge, Salisbury, Grove, Trumbull, Green, Millbury 
and other streets. In the meantime the two companies consolidated, 
and began to afford facilities more in character with the size of the 
city. Another company, the North End, operated a line from Foster 
street throuofh Summer and Lincoln streets to Greendale. 



ADMINISTRATION OF FRANCIS A. HARRINGTON. 

Three terms — from January 6. 1S90. to January 2, iScj3. 

Francis A. Harrington,- Republican, was elected mayor in December, 
1889, the opposing candidate being A. George Bullock, Citizens'-Demo- 
crat. Benjamin W. Childs and Joseph S. Perry were the unsuccessful 
candidates in 1890 and 1891. 

The population of Worcester in i8go was 84,655. The valuation was 
$73,272,360. Expenses of the following departments were: Schools, 
$278,956; highways, $144,227; Fire Department, $75,132; police, $104,- 
599; street lights, $71,397 ; City Hospital, $32,921 ; the city debt was 
$3,930,700. This was a no-license year. 

The trunk sewer in Sutton lane and Cambridge street, for the relief 
of the New Worcester district, was completed. The works at Ouinsig- 



* Francis Alfred Harrington was born in Worcester November 17. 1S46. He served in 
the Board of Aldermen previous to his election as mayor. 




FRANCIS A. HARRINGTON. 



The Worcester of 189S. 69 

amond, for the disposal of the sewage by chemical precipitation, were 
put in operation. 

In 1 89 1 the valuation was $77,764,919. The trust funds for various 
purposes amounted to $302,026. The cost of maintaining the schools 
with 15,484 pupils and 340 teachers, was $301,460. 

Fire-engine houses at Lake View and Quinsigamond were erected. 
The office of stiperintehdent of street lights was created. The new 
Public Library building was occttpied April i, 1891. It cost $108,000, 
exclusive of the land. Six hundred and two new buildings were 
erected in the city. Eight hundred and eighteen million gallons of 
water were ttsed exclusive of street sprinkling. 

In 1892 the net debt was $2,600,903; valuation, $80,811,000. The 
Holden reservoir dam was raised at a cost of $99,261. The English 
high school building was completed at an expense of $145,000. New 
school-houses on Millbury and Canterbury streets were nearly com- 
pleted. There were 15,385 pupils in the public schools. The Public 
Library expenses were $18,500. Eighty-five miles of sewers were in 
operation. Six hundred and seven new buildings were erected. In 
December, 1891, the city again voted against the sale of intoxicants, 
the majoritv having been in favor of it in December, 1890. 

The Leicester & Spencer electric railroad was opened in 1891, and 
the ]\Iillbury line in 1892. 

The tax rate was lower during ^Nlayor Harrington's administration 
than for manv vears previous. About $800,000 worth of property 
was acquired bv the citv during the years 1 890-92, in addition in the 
ordinarv increase in the building of graded school-houses, etc. This 
included the English high school, the ncM' Public Library building, 
and the Colton estate, which was purchased as an addition to the City 
Hospital. 



ADMINISTRATION OF HENRY A, MARSH. 

Three terms — from January 2. 1S93, to January 6, 1896. 

Henrv A. ;Marsh* was elected mayor in December, 1892, the Demo- 
cratic candidate being James E. Estabrook. In 1893 the vote for Mr. 
jMarsh was practicallv unanimous. Webster Thayer was the unsuc- 
cessful Democratic nominee in 1894. 

In 1893 the valuation was $83,748,600; the tax rate, $15.20, and the 
amount of taxes assessed $1,148,450. The expenditures in various 
departments were as follows: Schools, $369,109; highways, $170,120; 
Fire Department, $128,963; police, $111,177; street lights, $79^057; 



'See sketch in Biographical Department. 




HENRY A. MARSH. 



The Worcester of 1898. 71 

City Hospital, $29,589; the net funded debt of the citv November 30, 
1893, amounted to §2,505,974, showing a decrease of $94,929 during 
the year. The sinking funds on the 30th of November amounted t(.) 
§1,548,998, a net increase of $141,1 15 during the year. The seventeen 
trust funds amounted to $321,035. 

The new charter of the city, the outcome of a strong recommendation 
by Mayor Marsh in his inaugural, was granted by the Legislature in June, 
1893, and was accepted bv the voters at the city election following. 
Its distinctive feature is in the separation of the executive and the 
legislative functions of the government. There was included in it a 
system of minority representation in the Board of Aldermen, and the 
establishment of a board of liquor license commissioners. The ques- 
tion of minority representation, which was strongly opposed, was again 
submitted to the voters at the State election in 1894, and again 
accepted. 

Bv an act of the Legislature April 7, 1893, the operation of the grade- 
crossing laws in Worcester was suspended for five years. Decrees 
were issued for the extension and perfecting (if an admirable svstem 
of electric street railways, canying conditions that required the laying 
of pavements where these lines existed. Many thousands of yards of 
block paving were thus laid that otherwise the city would have been 
obliged to furnish. 

In 1894 the valuation was $85,933,100. The tax rate was $15.20. 
The net fimded debt November 30 was $2,535,719. The sinking funds 
amounted to $1,807,664. Expenditures in various departments were: 
Schools, $402,982; highways, $214,899; Fire Department, $129,970; 
street lights, $80,241; salaries, $26,550. Total expenditures for all 
purposes, $2,990,348. 

During this year conditions of a very unusual nature presented them- 
selves for solution. Among these was the failure of the city water supply 
b}' reason of the drouth. In the short period oi two weeks, and imder 
extreme difficulties, a conduit 3,300 feet in length was constructed, 
through which 187,000,000 gallons of water from Kettle brook was 
drawn, to the city's relief. The act giving the city the right to take 
Kettle brook as a permanent source passed the Legislature May 14, 1895. 

To afford relief to the industrious poor during a period of extreme 
financial depression, public work was undertaken in the much-needed 
construction and relocation of several streets and avenues. 

In 1895 the valuation was $87,500,000; the tax rate was $15.40; 
taxes assessed, $1,254,790; net debt, $2,530,368. Expenditures in sev- 
eral departments were: Schools, $429,631; liljrary, $29,312; health, 
$9,519; Fire Department, $134,806; highways, $284,023. Total expen- 
ditures for all purposes, $3,065,588. 




AUGUSTUS B. R. SPRAGUE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 73 

During Mavor ^^larsh's thrte terms the revision of the City ( )rdinances 
was accomplislred. The city was authorized to borrow $500,000 in excess 
of its indebtedness limit for the purpose of building an additional 
reservoir on Tatnuck brook, and other necessary expenditures in con- 
nection with the extension of the water works. Steel bridges in 
Webster, Southbridge and Mill streets were built. Brick pavements 
were introduced. Ten additional basins for sewage purification were 
completed. The arching of Mill brook was brought to a close. 

Nine school-houses were built, which, with additions to others, repre- 
resented sixt\"-tliree rooms. The Rice, Barton & Fales propertv on 
Mechanic, Union and Foster streets was purchased as a site for new 
headquarters of the Fire Department. The railroad tracks in Foster 
street (which ought never to have been allowed there) are in a fair 
wa\- to be abolished bv this movement. 

The price (.)f gas was reduced to $1.25 net per 1,000 feet on petition 
of the mayor to the State Board of Gas and Electric Light Commis- 
sioners. The erection of a hospital for contagious diseases was begun 
in 1895, and a new ward for male surgical patients at the City Hospital 
was practically completed during the same year. 

Mayor Marsh in his inaugural addresses in 1894 and 1895 strongly 
urged the City Council to take steps toward the erection of a new City 
Hall suitable to the needs of the growing city. 

During the year J 895 the question of the site and plans was settled, 
and on November 13 the order for the construction of the building and 
the appointment of a commission to erect the same was signed by the 
ma\-or. 



ADMINISTRATION OF A. B. R. SPRAGUE. 

Two ternis — from January i>. 1996, to January 3, iSi)a. 

At the election in December, 1895, Augustus B. R. .Sprague," the 
Citizens' candidate, prevailed over Rufus B. Dodge, Jr., the Republican 
nominee. 

The population of Worcester in 1896 exceeded 100.000. 

At the close of the fiscal vear of 1895, the net funded debt amounted 
to $2,530,368, and this was increased dtiring 1896 to $2,841,422. The 
city sinking funds were increased during the same period $305,643, 
amounting to $2,383,735 on the 30th dav of November, 1896. The 
'wahTation of 1896 reached $91,538,000, an increase of $3,777,000 in 
twelve months. The property of religious, benevolent, educational 
and scientific institutions, exempt from taxation, was estimated at 
$5,000,000; tax rate per $1,000, $15.60. Four hundred and fifty-two 

*See sketch in Biographical Department. 



74 The Worcester of 1898. 

new buildings were erected during' the year. The expenditures in 
several departments were: vSehools, $472,925; street maintenance and 
construction, $352,162; Fire Department, $220,750; poor, $53,658; 
police, $121,965; parks, $17,166; health, $10,198; hospital, $68,185; 
library, $33,052; salaries, $34,675; interest, $105,570. Total expendi- 
tures for all purposes, $3,557,784. 

The plans having been decided upon, the City Hall Commission, on 
the 23rd of April, ch>sed the contract for its building with Xorcross 
Brothers. The corner-stone was laid on the 12th of September with 
appropriate ceremonies, by the ]\lost Worshipful (irand Lodge of 
^Massachusetts, Edwin B. Holmes grand master, assisted by Mayor 
Sprague, who made the address, and a general celebration and military 
and civic parade on the 12th of September. Before the close of the 
year the structure was well advanced. 

The gift by the Honorable Stephen Salisbury of a large tract of 
vakiable land and $100,000 for the site and building of an art museum 
for the benefit of all the people of the city of Worcester, was a notable 
event of the year. The corner-stone was laid June 24, 1S97. with 
addresses by Mayor Sprague and Governor Wolcott. 

At the December election Alayor Sprague, with the Citizens' nomina- 
tion, again prevailed, the Republican nominee being Samuel E. Winslow. 

The valuation in 1897 was $98,115,000; the tax rate was $14.80 per 
$1,000, and the amount of taxes collected $1,518,907. At the close of 
the financial vear the debt was $3,498,803. The increase is accounted 
for bv the expenditures for the new City Hall, and the expense attend- 
ing the taking of the waters of Kettle brook, both of which were 
decreed bv a previous administration. 

Expenditures in various departments were: Schools, $504,970; streets, 
$428,993; Fire Department, $1 58,739; poor, $70,867; police, $137,646; 
library, $32,925; parks, $44,947; interest, $128,485. Total expendi- 
tures for all purposes, $4,096,495. 

During Mayor Sprague's term, streets of unusual importance to the 
business interests of the city were added to the list of public highways, 
notably dimmercial street, from Front to School; the relocation of 
^^'est Bo}-lston street, and the extension of Fremont street. To pro- 
vide for especial construction and general improvement of the streets, 
$225,000 was provided by loan. 

Twenty-one additional acres of land adjoining the purification works 
were procured to facilitate contemplated constructions in sewage dis- 
posal; $100,000 was appropriated for the erection of a sludge disposal 
plant. Thirteen miles of sewers were constructed. 

The fi)rtifving of the water works rapidly progressed. In 1896 a 
new storage basin was completed and other work executed along the 



The Worcester of 1898. 



75 



stream of Kettle brook. A new distributing reservoir and a forty-inch 
low-service main were completed, together with mtich other needed 
construction. 

Xever in the history of the city were so many school-houses built 
in two years, the total cost of which was $265,000, the stntctures 
furnishing accommodations for 2,800 pupils. 

The facilities of the City Hospital were greatly increased by the 
completion of the new surgical ward and the Winslow Surgery, the 
latter a gift from Samuel E. Winslow, Esq., in memory of his father, 
Ex-jMayor Samuel Winslow. The Nurses' Home connected with the 
hospital, which ci;>st about $50,000, was the gift of Mr. Edward C. 
Thaver. A hospital for contagious diseases was completed at a cost 
i''f $33,000. A public bath-house was erected at Lake Quinsigamond. 
A large addition was made to the Home Farm at a cost of $25,000. 

The Police Department was reorganized and the force increased. 

The new headquarters for the Fire Department was established and 
the construction of the building well advanced. 

Mayor Sprague's administration was particularly distinguished as 
the one under which the new City Hall was erected, and from the 
beginning of the work till it was practically completed he was, cx-officio, 
an active member of the commission under whose direction it was 
built. He was chairman pro tempore during the absence of Chairman 
Sawver in the summer of 1 8g6. 

STATISTICAL SUMMARY, 1848-1897. 



Year. 


Population. 


Valuation. 


Debt. 


Tax Rate 
per $1,000. 


Total 
Expenditures 


1848 


15,000* 


$8,721,000 


$99,677 


$5-34 


$71,346 


1850 


17.049 


I 1,082,501 


96,996 


6.90 


I 12,707 


1855 


22,284 


18,059,000 


98.435 


7.00 


220,754 


i860 


24,960 


16,406,900 


94.533 


8.00 


233.612 


1865 


3°. 058 


18,937,000 


364.459 


1 7.00 


673,180 


1870 


41,105 


34,018,450 


1.185,718 


17.40 


1,887,694 


1875 


49.317 


49,299,781 


2,589,700! 


16.60 


2. 115. 541 


1880 


58,291 


41,006,862 


2,265,914! 


17.40 


1,632,558 


1885 


68,380 


52,719,391 


2.394,9i4t 


18.00 


2,091,663 


1890 


84.655 


73.531.060 


2,468.469! 


15.60 


2,368,228 


1895 


98.767 


88,080,816 


2.530.368! 


15-40 


3,065,588 


1897 


106,000* 


98,520,591 


3,498,803! 


14.80 


4,096,495 



* Estimate. \ Net Debt. 



THE OLD TOWN AND CITY HALL 



JoR more than one hundred years the meetings of the inhabitants 
iif Worcester for the transaction of municipal business were 
held in the buildings which were used for public worship during that 
period. Previous to the year 1787 the town and the parish were one 
so far as temporal interests were concerned, and after that date con- 
siderable time elapsed before a separation in fact in the matter of 
property rights took place. The first meeting-house erected on the 
Common in 17 19 gave way to a more commodious one in 1763, and 
this later building came down to us, through various alterations, 
improvements and renewals until, in 1887, its demolition was decreed, 
and the long-familiar "Old" .South Church vanished. In the early 
time its walls resounded with Revolutionary oratory, and from its west 
porch was read for the first time in public within the limits of the 
Commonwealth, the Declaration of Independence. From its pulpit 
many famous preachers held forth from time to time. Here the 
immortal Webster spoke while the halo of his anti-nullification triumph 
was still luminous about him. The resident ministry, while not par- 
ticularly distinguished, exerted a quiet but powerful influence. Many 
other associations, more or less interesting or important, are connected 
with this old building, which was for so many vears a landmark in the 
town. The larger area of the new Citv Hall almost entirely covers the 
site of the old meeting-house. 

In 1824 the present and prospective exigencies and i^equirements of 
the town, and a growing disinclination on the part of members of the 
First Parish to allow further use of Jihe church for town meetings, 
brought what had for some time been a thought into definite action. 
At the annual March meeting a committee was appointed to take into 
consideration the subject of a town hall, and on the 3d of May a report 
was made recommending the erection of a building for town purposes, 
with two full stories and a basement, the first story to be used as a 
town hall, the second story to be divided into two small halls, one of 
which was to be devoted to the purposes of the Agricultural Society, 
(in condition that said societv should reconvey a piece of land at the-- 



78 The Worcester of 1898. 

southwest corner of the burial-ground on the Common which had been 
deeded to it by the town in 1823. It was stated in the report that the 
basement of the building could be rented for not less than fifty dollars 
per annum; and the whole cost of the edifice, if built of stone and 
brick, was estimated at $7,000. This report was accepted, and it was 
voted "to build a town house," and a committee was appointed to 
locate it, and to decide of what materials it should be built. 

It appears that three sites were considered — one, offered as a gift 
by Dr. William Paine, on Alain street, near Thomas; another, the lot 
already deeded to the Agricultural .Society; and the one where the 
hall was built, at the northwest corner of the Common. On this site 
was a small building used as a store, the land being held by lease 
from the town. The building and all the rights appertaining thereto 
under the lease were purchased for $780; and it was voted to erect on 
the spot a town house 64 feet long by 54 feet wide, with basement of 
stone and two full stories of brick, the expense of which was not to 
exceed $7,000. Frederick William Paine, John W. Lincoln, William 
Eaton, Otis Corbett and Enoch Flagg were chosen the Building Com- 
mittee, and they were authorized to borrow the necessarv money. 

The corner-stone was laid Aiigust 2, 1824, with Masonic ceremonies, 
under the direction of Lewns Bigelow, the contractor, who was master 
of Morning vStar Lodge, A. F. & A. ]\I., and Peter Kendall, who 
executed the stone and brick work. An address was delivered by 
Samuel M. Burnside. The completed building was dedicated on the 
2d of May, 1825, with an historical address by Honorable John Davis. 
The total cost was $9,017.90. The arrangement included a large town 
hall on the first floor, with rcjoms for town clerk, selectmen, etc.; 
and the upper story was divided into two smaller halls, one for the 
Agricultural Society, the other for a Masonic Lodge room. The base- 
ment was in part rented for a provision store, and for other purposes. 

In 1 84 1 a radical change was made in the structure, fiftv feet being 
added to its length on the east end, and the whole upper story was 
made into one hall, which would accommodate nearlv 400 people; the 
first story of the old part was divided into four rooms, one to be used 
as an armory. The first story of the new part formed a hall 51 by 48 
feet, while the new basement part gave accommodations for an engine 
company. These and other changes were made at an expense of about 
$1 1,000. The large hall in the second story was known as the " Upper 
Town Hall," and the lower halls as the "East" and "AVest" halls. 

Another change was made in 1848, when the East hall became the 
Police Court room, and the West hall was divided into rooms for the 
City Council, and offices for clerk, treasurer, etc. Over $1,200 was 
expended at this time. vSeveral minor changes were made during the 



The Worcester of i8g8. 79 

next fifteen years, the two doors each side of the main entrance at the 
west end being replaced by windows in 1857, giving the appearance 
seen- during the last forty years of its existence. 

In 1866 the large Town Hall was divided, and the Council chambers 
used since that time constructed at the west end, while the east half 
was devoted to the uses of the Police (later the Municipal and Central 
District) Court. The whole of the first storv was given over to the 
offices of the various citv departments. The cost of these extensive im- 
provements was $27,232.20. The only external change after this was the 
adding of the clock tower in 1888. The expense of the several altera- 
tions, added to the first cost of the building, amounted to nearly $60,000. 

The large "Upper" Town Hall was, until the completion of Mechan- 
ics Hall in 1857, the largest audience room in Worcester, and it was 
much in demand for concerts, lectures, and other public assemblies. 
Various political parties at different times held conventions and meet- 
ings within its walls. The Free-Soil party was born here in 1848, and 
from this building went out the famous resolution by Reverend George 
Allen, which became the watchword of the exciting campaign of that 
year. It was in the City Hall on the 1 1 th of March, 1854, that Eli 
Thayer announced his "Plan of Freedom," which, applied in his Kansas 
emigration movement, thwarted the purpose of the Southern leaders 
after they had accomplished the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. 
Among the distingitished names associated with this hall may be men- 
tioned Daniel Webster, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas H. Benton, Louis 
Kossuth, Father ^lathew. John B. Cough, Jenny Lind and W. M. 
Thackeray, and there are many others of equal or lesser note. Not 
its least honorable use was that for the transaction of the municipal 
business during the closing years of the town organization, where 
gathered the substantial citizens of that time, including several of 
more than local distinction, impelled by earnest desire for the common 
welfare. With the coming of the City Government and its more direct 
and convenient methods, the general town meeting was abolished: and 
after the opening of more elegant and commodious places for public 
gatherings, the old hall gradually fell into disuse, until in 1866 it was 
finally closed. The room and its many interesting associations exist 
now onlv as memories in the minds of our older citizens. 

The last public gathering held in the building was on the afternoon 
of Wednesday, May 4, 1898, when the surviving voters of 1848 assem- 
bled to say farewell to the old City Hall. Ex-Mayor Stoddard presided, 
and addresses were made by Mayor Dodge, Honorable A. S. Roe, 
E.x-]Mayor Sprague, Samuel Hathaway, Dexter Rice. Alzirus Brown, 
Frederick G. Stiles and others. The demolition of the building took 
place during the interval between the above date and July 1st. 



THE NEW CITY HALL 



jfJIjljX the 23d day of April, 1894, the governor of the Commonwealth 
ILSJi approved an act passed by the General Coiirt which authorized 
the city of Worcester to boirow the sum of $300,000 in excess of its 
debt limit fixed by statute, for the purpose of biiilding a new city hall. 
This was the first definite move made towards the realization of a 
project which had for several years agitated the minds of oiir citizens 
and public officials, and which the pressing needs of an increasing 
population now imperatively forced to an immediate consideration. In 
consequence, however, of a controversy which arose and was continued 
for some time by the advocates of different sites for the structure, 
little progress was made in the undertaking during the next twelve 
months. The question at issue was in due course submitted to judicial 
and legislative investigation, and the decision to locate the building on 
the Common was finally sustained in the spring of 1896. 

At a regular meeting of the City Council held June 3, 1895, it was 

Ordered : That the mayor be, and he is hereby authorized and requested 
to advertise for and obtain competitive plans and specifications for a new 
city hall building, to be located on the Old Common, so called, in the city 
of Worcester, equally distant from Front and Park streets, the front line 
of said building to be not nearer than fifty feet distant from the easterly 
line of Main street. Said plans and specifications to be for a building the 
cost of which shall not exceed the sum of $300,000. The said plans and 
specifications to be completed and delivered to the mayor on or before 
September 10, 1S95. 

And it is further Ordered : That the sum of $5,000 be paid as compen- 
sation to competitors furnishing plans 

The award to be made by a committee consisting of the mayor, the 
superintendent of public buildings, together with an expert and disinter- 
ested architect, to be selected and appointed by the mayor. 

In accordance with the last provision of the above order, ^Mayor 
Marsh, on the 13th of June, appointed the well-known and distin- 
guished architect, Richard Morris Hunt, as the professional adviser, to 
whose decision the plans for a city hall were to be referred, but the 



82 The Worcester of 1898. 

death of this o;entleman on the 31st of July folhnving necessitated 
another appointment, and his son, Richard HowLind Hunt, was 
selected. 

The competing architects were: Peabody & Stearns of Boston; 
Carrere 8z Hastings of New York ; Hartwell & Richardson of Boston, 
and A. P. Cutting, Barker & Nourse, George H. Clemence, Clellan 
^Valdo Fisher, E. Boyden & .Son, and Fuller & Delano, all of Worces- 
ter. After a careful examination of the nine sets of plans, the award 
was announced September 21 as follows: To Peabody & Stearns the 
design for the construction of the building; and the prize money was 
distributed among four of the unsuccessful competitors, Hartwell & 
Richardson receiving $2,000, Carrere & Hastings $1,500, A. P. Cutting 
$1,000, and Clellan Waldo Fisher $500. 

At a meeting of the City Council held June 13, 1895, a loan of 
$50,000 was authorized to provide for the preliminary work in the 
erection of the new City Hall, and on the nth of November of the 
same year it was 

Ordered : That a commission of three citizens be elected by baUot in 
joint convention by the City Council, who shall proceed to erect with all 
reasonable dispatch a new city hall building, in compliance with the plans 
and alterations submitted by Messrs. Peabody & Stearns, and already 
accepted in accordance with the order of the City Council passed June 3, 
1895. 

The person who may hold the office of mayor during the existence of this 
commission and the erection of the building shall be, ex-officio, a member 
of said commission. 

And on the 25 th of November it was 

Ordered : That a joint convention of the two branches be held forth- 
with for the ]nirpose of electing City Hall Commissioners. 

Pursuant to the last mentioned order, the two boards met in joint 
convention and elected William H. Sawyer, Harrison S. Prentice and 
xA.ndrew Athy members of the commission to erect a new city hall. 

On the 2 1 St of April, 1896, a communication from the City Hall 
Commission, to the effect that the design in accordance with the 
accepted plans could not be carried out properly in the construction 
of the new City Hall for the sum already appropriated, was acted upon 
bv the City Council, and an additional amount of $275,000, making a 
total of $575,000, was voted without opposition. April 23 the con- 
tract for the construction of the building was awarded to Norcross 
Brothers for the sum of $470,761, their bid being the lowest among 
seven competitors. During the summer the foundations were com- 



The Worcester of 1898. 83 

pleted, and the laying of the corner-stone was appointed for the lotli 
of September, and arrangements were made for a military and civic 
parade, and Masonic and other ceremonies proper to the occasion. 

The weather on Thursday, the 10th of September, proving too 
inclement for outdoor exercises, the ceremonies were postponed to 
vSaturday the 1 2th, when they were successfully carried out in accord- 
ance with the programme, which is given in the following pages. 

The City Hall building proper was completed at the end of the vear 
1897, but various circumstances and minor details combined to delay 
occupancy until April, 1898. The dedication took place on the 28th 
of that month, at which time Chairman Sawyer, in behalf of the City 
Hall Commission, made a full report of the doings of that board, 
and formally delivered the keys of the building to thve mayor in the 
presence of a large and representative gathering of Worcester citizens. 



LAYING OF THE COBNEB-STONE. 

The grand military and civic parade which preceded the ceremonies 
at the corner-stone was successfully carried out in all its details under 
the able direction of General Josiah Pickett, chief marshal, assisted by 
Major E. T. Raymond, chief of staff. Nearly all the military. Masonic 
and other civic bodies in the city participated and the line moved 
promptly at the time designated. The procession probably equaled if 
not exceeded in numbers any one which had previously appeared in 
Worcester. 

The exercises at the corner-stone began, according to the programme, 
with the playing of Kellar's American Hymn by the consolidated 
bands under the leadership of E. D. Ingraham of Battery B Band, 
stationed at the south end of the main floor of the building. 

Mayor Sprague then stepped forward and said : 

(icntloncn of tlic City Council : In absence of the chairman of the 
City Hall Commissioners who are charged with the erection of the build- 
ing, I have the honor tn announce that the corner-stone of the City Hall is 
ready to be laid. 

Alderman Alonzo A. White, president of the Board of Aldermen, 
then rose and said : 

-]/;•. Mayor, in accordance with an order adopted by the City Council, 
you are respectfully requested to assume the entire direction of the exercises 
and cerem'onies incident to the laying of the corner-stone of the new City 
Hall. 

Rev. Calvin Stebbins, pastor of the Church of the Unity, offered the 
following prayer, amid the silence of the vast multitude : — 



84 The Worcester of 1898. 

O God of our life! whose infinite majesty looketh on us from the heavens 
and the earth, and whose grace, love and truth shine on us from the face of 
Jesus of Nazareth, we invoke Thy presence in this hour of our public rejoic- 
ing, and ask Thy blessing upon these services. 

Our forms and ceremonies, our martial music and our booming cannon 
would to-day, we know, be empty, indeed, as sounding brass and tinkling 
cymbal if not charged with a sense of civic duty and public honor. Our 
w'ork and our works, though they be wonders of architecture, would be as 
dust and ashes if not pervaded by a hope which reaches up to Thee and 
raises us above things material and temporal to principles which are spirit- 
ual and eternal. 

The corner-stone we lay to-day, we lay on firm foundations. May it be 
as the symbol of the invisible foundation in eternal verities on which we 
should lay the corner-stone of private and civic character. Beautiful as the 
material is, we thank Thee that we can use it and rise above it into the 
region of the spirit. 

OGod! as the granite takes the shape of beauty and utility under the 
hand of the artist and the artisan, so may that temple not made with hands 
within us, rise in amplitude and magnificence and become the abode of Thy- 
self. 

Thy Spirit! almighty God! we feel as it pulses through this vast uni- 
verse; Thy guidance we trace in the long history of our race as it has 
marched across the centuries: Thy leading hand we see in the triumphal 
story of the rise and progress of our republic, and surely our goodly city has 
not been without Thee. 

For her prosperity in material things, for her growth in population, and 
for the opportunities she offers to all of every race, condition and religion 
to lay deep and strong the foundations on which to build a manly and wom- 
anly character, we thank Thee. 

May Thy blessing, O God! be upon our broad and beautiful land with its 
precious trust from Thee, of freedom for all; upon our good old Common- 
wealth, so strong to protect, so generous to help, so motherly in her care of 
the poor and unfortunate, and upon this the city of our nativity or adop- 
tion; may she ever be a city which hath foundations whose Builder and 
Maker is (iod. Bless, we beseech of Thee, all those who hold high trusts 
from the people in the nation, the Commonwealth, the city. 

Bless, we pray Thee, the church of the living God, under whatever ban- 
ner its disciples may be marching. Again, almighty God, we ask Thy 
blessing on the services and purpose of this hour; may the corner-stone we 
lay and the building we rear never be polluted by the leprous presence of 
that foulest crime against the citizen — political corruption. May these 
walls never be blistered by the money power in politics, or by the hot pas- 
sions of men who put the interests of party, or clique, or individual before 
the interest of the whole city. Here, rather in time to come, may the com- 
monweal be ably discussed and triumphantly vindicated. 

And to Thee, who art above all and through all and in all. God blessed 
forever, we would give praise and glory now and always. Aiucn. 



The Worcester of 1898. 85 

At the conclusion Mayor vSprague delivered the following address : 

(jtiifii tiiiii of tliL City Council. Ladies, and Fcl/oic Citi-jciis: 

We are met to lay the corner-stone of Worcester's City Hall, which upon 
its completion will be the great central building of the people, devoted to 
the transaction of the public business, the home of its City Council, and the 
headquarters of its executive and departmental work ; in short, the official 
habitation of those servants whom the people shall choose from time to time 
to do their will. It is fitting that such an occasion should be observed with 
something of public ceremony, because it marks one of the eras in that local 
history w'hich touches more nearly than all others the families and individ- 
ual men and women who constitute the municipality. 

We lay the corner-stone of this structure in historic ground. In the arti- 
cles of agreement at the settlement of the tract or township of Worcester, 
subscribed in 1669, it was provided that there should be "a place reserved 
in common near the centre of the town, about twenty acres, for a training 
ground, and to set a school-house upon." The ground appropriated for the 
above-named purposes in 1684 comprised the present Common, which, how- 
ever, has been from time to time considerably reduced from its original 
dimensions. At times there have stood upon the Common two school- 
houses, the town pound, the hearse-house, the gun-house, the First Parish 
meeting-house, with its accompanying horse-sheds and burial-ground, and, 
in time, the Town Hall. 

Here, in 17 19, the first meeting-hnuse was erected. The town w-as incor- 
porated in May, 1722, and the first town meeting was held in the meeting- 
house in September of the same year. This house was replaced in 1763 by 
the one removed in 1887, known as the "Old South meeting-house." All 
of us, except the children, can well remember this quaint and chaste speci- 
men of New England church building, with its slim, tall spire rising toward 
the sky, and its gilded weathercock from its high perch challenging the ad- 
miration of the Worcester boy. 

Inasmuch as in the early days the parish and the town were one, and the 
parish-house was in use as the town-house as well, it will be observed that 
all the purposes which I have enumerated for which the Common has been 
used, except a small portion of the Town Hall and ground rented for a time 
for a printing office and a market, were pureh- public purposes, pertaining 
to the whole municipality. It was the town's hearse, the town's guns, 
the town's school, the town's house of worship which were established 
hereon. 

In now establishing hereon a second time the City Hall, all other pur- 
poses being abandoned, we but rededicate the people's Common to the use 
of all the people. The meeting-house removed in 1887 occupied land which 
is entirely covered by the site on which we are to erect this building. The 
old building and its site are both of great historical interest, and we may 
well recall some of those events which make them so. In the days of colo- 
nial agitation, preceding the Revolution, as well as during that eventful 
struggle, and the early days of the infant republic, the meetings of the 



86 The Worcester of 1898. 

town were held in the meetint'-hduse. Here were formed the resolutions 
and enunciated the declarations ni the patriots n{ those stirring times. 
Sturdy patriots they were, impatient and intolerant of all opinion which 
had not the clear, unmistakable ring; and so it was here, on August 14, 1774, 
they, in public meeting, forced the Tory town clerk to obliterate the obnox- 
ious protest he had entered on the town records by dipping his fingers in 
the ink and smearing the page. 

On the 19th of April, 1775, a messenger from the east dashed into town, 
shouting the cry, "To arms," the cry of Concord and Lexington, and his 
horse fell exhausted near this spot. Here Capt. Timothy Bigelow, after- 
wards the distinguished colonel of the 15th Massachusetts Regiment of the 
Continental army, paraded his company of minute-men, and after a fervent 
prayer by the Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty, marched for Cambridge, followed 
by the company commanded by Capt. Benjamin Flagg, so that iio men 
left this spot that day for the seat of war. 

Ten days after the Declaration of American Independence was passed by 
the Continental Congress, the messenger, carrying a copy of it to the gov- 
ernment at Boston, passed through Worcester, and the precious document 
was first publicly read in Massachusetts from the west porch of the meeting- 
house, by Isaiah Thomas. Here, too, on October 23, 1789, was the artillery 
salute of eleven guns, given by Major Treadwell's Worcester artillery, 
which heralded the passage through Worcester of the president. General 
George Washington. 

In 1740 Whitefield, drawing to himself people from far and near, preached 
to thousands assembled upon these grounds; and here, in later days, great 
outdoor meetings have been stirred by the eloquence of John Quincy 
Adams, of Louis Kossuth, and other distinguished men. From the ear- 
liest days of the municipality, this Common has been a military parade and 
training field, and never was it distinguished so highly by scenes of patriot- 
ism as when, from 1861 to 1865, it witnessed the departure of Worcester 
regiments for the war of the Rebellion. Here the authorities of State and 
city, determined fathers and brothers, tearful mothers, wives and sisters, 
and crowds of fellow citizens, to whose cause they were devoting their lives, 
and who showered upon them cheers and blessings, witnessed the departure 
of the volunteers. 

And here it was, too, that having passed through the storm of war, the 
returned survivors of the struggle found a welcome home. 

Hallowed, indeed, is this ground, with its patriotic history; and, as the 
city of Worcester lays the corner-stone of this building, let it be considered 
that it erects it not only for the growing future, but as a worthy monument 
of the past. Let it be beautiful and strong, worthy to stand on the same 
ground site on which the marble and the granite already stand, to com- 
memorate the soldiers of 1775, who fought to give birth to an independent 
republic, and the soldiers of 1S61, who fought to redeem it and reestablish 
it for all time. 

Previously to 1825 town meetings were held in the Old South meeting- 
house; but on May 17, 1824, the town voted to l>uild upon the northwest 



The Worcester of 189S. 87 

corner of the Common a town hall. 64 feet long by 54 feet wide. The 
corner-stone was laid August 2, 1824, with Masonic ceremonies, by ]\Iorning 
Star Lodge, and it was finished and dedicated !May 2, 1825, and has since 
been the municipal building. 

Built at a time when the population of Worcester was less than four thou- 
sand, it has been several times remodeled and enlarged, but has for many 
years been inadequate to the needs of the city, which has so abundantly 
prospered and strengthened as to reach a population of over one hundred 
thousand souls. 

The old hall, now to be supplanted, has associations of patriotism and 
eloquence which the people of Worcester will not forget. It has resounded 
to the eloquent and wise utterances of Daniel Webster, of Henry Clay, of 
Abraham Lincoln, of Charles vSumner, of Benton and Burlingame, Wilson 
and Allen, and many others; and here stood Father !Mathew, with his 
pledge of total abstinence. 

It was the scene, too, all through the stirring days of the anti-slavery 
agitation, of conferences and spirited public meetings, and may fairly be 
called a cradle of liberty of the African race. 

Here, then, within a radius of a hundred feet, in church and hall, for one 
hundred and seventy-two years, has the business of this municipality been con- 
ducted, and for one hundred and twenty-eight years the town meetings were 
held — those schools of liberty and self-government where the humblest 
citizen as well as the most learned and influential, exercised the right to 
raise his voice in advocacy of any measure he deemed for the public 
good. 

Before the separation of town and parish, the management of both and 
the support of both were the care of the town meeting, and the church 
being democratic as well as the town, they were the purest democracies the 
world ever saw. They were the creation of those men and women who left 
the old world and sought this inhospitable coast, determined to establish 
their right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. 

They were men and women of prayer and faith and courage, and in the 
growth and development of the institutions they founded, they so con- 
structed the civil system of their communities that from it was born a 
great, free republic — our republic I 

Here the oppressed of every land and every clime are welcome, if, in good 
faith, they bow obedient to our laws, and are loyal to the country and its 
flag. There is no weakness under its folds to indicate that the rule of law 
may be transformed into the lawlessness of license. Our flag summons us 
to the constant and earnest resolution that, whoever raises the red flag of 
anarchy, whether wickedly or misguidedly, he shall be ground to powder 
between the upper and the nether millstones of true liberty and law. 

No great standing army eats out the substance of the people, but we have 
an army of observation engaged in the peaceful pursuits of life, artisans of 
the rank and file, who, when the country calls, respond with a personal in- 
terest such as belongs to no other people under the blue dome of the 
skv. 



88 The Worcester of 1898. 

In the old wmid, kingdoms and empires have fallen when political virtue 
was supplanted by fraud and corruption and a disregard of the immutable 
laws of God. 

By their rise and fall, we may learn that to perpetuate this republic, 
which is founded upon the fundamental principles of equity and law, the 
right of every man, however humble his calling, must be recognized and 
secured. If eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, it is also the price of an 
honest administration of municipal as well as of national government. 

Our fair city of a hundred thousand people, whose future none can 
predict, has outgrown the building in which its public business has been 
transacted for nearly half a century, and the walls of a new one are rising, 
which promise to be worthy of our beloved home. Constructed by our 
townsmen, of granite quarried within our county, it is, indeed, a home 
production. 

As we lay the corner-stone, let us devoutly jiray that public extrava- 
gance, official corruption, or whatsoever worketh an abomination or maketh 
a lie, or even questionable measures, shall ne\er find a shelter within these 
walls. Inspired by all that is true and honest and of good report, may the 
servants of the people who gather here to conduct the business of this 
municipality go in and out with the approval of their own consciences and 
of their fellow- citizens, because faithful and intelligent service has been 
rendered the city, and because the public interest has not been sacrificed to 
private ends. 

( )n the conclusion of his address. Mayor Sprag'ue tfirned to (rrand 
Master Holmes, and said : 

Most Wcrshipful Eihvin />'. Holmes, Grand Master: 

We are assembled in the presence of the honorable City Council, the City 
Hall Commissioners, heads of departments, commissioners' boards and trus- 
tees, ex-mayors, past m.embers of the City Government, honored citizens, 
military and civic bodies of our city, and the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge 
of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
setts, to lay the corner-stone of a building to be erected for the use of our 
municipal government. 

It gives me great pleasure, in behalf of the authorities and the people of 
Worcester, to bid you and the distinguished gentlemen who compose your 
suite a cordial welcome to the Heart of the Commonwealth. 

I invite you to now proceed with the laying of the corner-stone with the 
ceremonies and according to the usages of your ancient order. 

The most worthy grand master responded as follows: 

From time immemorial it has been the custom of the Ancient and Hon- 
orable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, when requested so to do, 
to lay, with ancient forms, the corner-stones of buildings erected for the 
worship of (lod, for charitable or educational objects, and for the purposes 
of the administration of justice and free government. This corner-stone 



The Worcester of 1898. 89 

we may therefore lay in accordance with our law; and thus testifying our 
appreciation of the duties and privileges of liberty regulated by law and our 
respect for duly constituted authority, we shall proceed in accordance with 
ancient usage. As the first duty of Masons in any undertaking is to in- 
voke the blessing of the Great Architect upon their work, we will unite with 
our grand chaplain in reading a lesson from the Holy Scriptures, and in an 
address to the throne of grace. 

The ceremony then proceeded in accordance with the ^lasonic ritual, 
the members of the Grand Lodge reciting the responses, standing with 
uncovered heads. 

The grand chaplain then offered prayer, in which he asked for divine 
blessing on Worcester, her people, her schools, her colleges, her insti- 
tutions of industry and culttire, and on all associated with her govern- 
ment. The praver was followed by the traditional Masonic response, 
"So mote it be," from the members of the Grand Lodge. 

The Worcester Masonic Quartette (Messrs. B. A. Barber, W. F. Little, 
T. B. Hamilton and D. E. Spencer 1 then sang the following hymn to 
the air of Coronation : 

Great Architect of earth and heaven, 

By time nor space confined. 
Enlarge our love to comprehend 

Our brethren, all mankind. 

Where'er we are, whate'er we do, 

Thy pre.sence let us own: 
Thine eye, all seeing, marks our deeds, 

To Thee all thoughts are known. 

While nature's works and science's laws 

We labor to reveal. 
Oh, be our duty done to Thee 

With fervency and zeal. 

With Faith our guide, and humble Hope, 

Warm Charity and Love, 
May all at last be raised to share 

Thy perfect light above. 

Following this, the gTand master called on the acting grand treas- 
urer, Charles M. Averv of ^lalden. to read the list of papers, docti- 
ments and articles contained in the box deposited in the corner-stone 
as follows : 

Worcester City Documents, 1849-1856 inclusive, and 1890-1896 inclusive: 
History of Worcester (Lincoln & Hersey) ; Reminiscences of Worcester 
(Wall): Dictionary of Worcester (Rice); Massachusetts Year Book (Roe); 
Manual of the General Court for 1896; Celebration of the 200th Anniversary 
of the Naming of Worcester: Eastern Worcester — Its First Settlers (Wall): 



go The Worcester of 1898. 

North Worcester— Its First Settlers (Wall); Boston Tea Party (Wall); 
Address before the Worcester Agricultural Society October 12, 1820 (Hon. 
Lewis Bigelow); Transactions of Worcester Agricultural Society, 1895; 
Report of Worcester Protective Department ; History of the First Univer- 
salist Church (Seagrave) ; Souvenir of Worcester; Annual Catalogue of 
Worcester Academy, 1896; Annual Catalogue of State Normal School, 
Worcester, 1896; Report of Parks Commission, 1895; Epitaphs from Grave- 
stones in Cemetery on Worcester Common (Barton); Clark University 
Summer School, 1895; Report of Worcester County Mechanics Association, 
1896; List of Premiums at the Bay State Fair, 1896; Worcester Masonic 
Charity and Educational Association Manual ; Population, Valuation, Taxes 
and Appropriations of the City of Worcester from 1850-1889; History of St. 
John's Catholic Church golden jubilee; Worcester Directory, 1896; chief 
marshal's order for Corner-stone parade; History of Odd Fellows' Home; 
Presentation of Dodge Park to the City of Worcester; Treasurer's Report 
of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 1896; silver and copper coins of 
1896 mintage, presented by the Ouinsigamond National Bank, Worcester; 
sterling silver heart, presented by the French Canadian societies of Wor- 
cester; and abstracts from the official records as follows: Offer of Stephen 
Salisbury relative to a new city hall, and the vote of thanks of the City 
Council for the same; Orders relative to the election of a city hall commis- 
sion; appropriation of funds for building a city hall; copy of contracts for 
building City Hall; Worcester Evening Gazette ; Worcester Daily Spy ; copy" 
of industrial edition of the Spy; Worcester Daily Telegram: Worcester 
Evening Post ; Arbctarens J 'an: Worcester Veckoblad ; Skandinavia : The 
Messenger ; L' Opinion Piiblique : Greater Worcester: Le Rci'cille : Nctv York 
Herald, April 16, 1865. with account of Lincoln's death; Oilman's Reg- 
ister; the Bible; Harrington's Illustrated Worcester ; Catalogue of the Poly- 
technic Institute; Catalogue of the Holy Cross College; Edward Winslow 
Lincoln's "Doings of the Worcester County Horticultural Society," and a 
copy of the address delivered at the dedication of the Town Hall (now the 
City Hall) on the 2d of May, 1825, by Hon. John Da 



Javis 



Then came the solemn ceremony of laying the stone, which all this 
time had been suspended from a derrick above its allotted position. 
The grand master taking the trowel, the deputy grand master the 
the square, senior grand warden the level, and the junior grand warden 
the plumb, they assumed their proper positions around the stone — 
the grand master at the east, the deputy on his right, the senior grand 
warden at the west, and the junior grand warden at the south. The 
grand master then spread the cement, and invited his honor the mayor 
to assist him. The grand master directed the grand marshal to order 
the craftsmen to h)\ver the stone. This was done by three motions — 
first by lowering a few inches and stopping when the public grand 
honor is given, the trumpet sounding once; second, again lowering a 
few inches and giving two grand honors, the trumpet sounding twice; 



The Worcester of 1898. 91 

third, letting- the stone down to its place and giving all the grand 
honors, the trumpet sounding thrice. The grand honors were given 
by the Masonic officials placing their right hands on their left breasts, 
and bowing profoundly. As the stone rested on its solid bed, an 
enthusiastic cheer burst from the vast multitude of spectators. The 
craftsmen who lowered the stone were Sttpt. S. F. French, Robert 
Cheyne, John Shepley and Benjamin Robinson. 

Mr. French communicated his orders by electric bell to Engineer 
Peter Maloney down in the basement. N. P. Pilet of Battery B Band 
was the trumpeter at the stone. Then came the application of the 
jewels to the corner-stone. 

Then the grand master, striking the stone thi"ee times with the 
gavel, said : 

Well made — well pmved — truly laid — true and trusty; and may this 
undertaking be conducted and completed by the craftsmen according to the 
grand plan in peace, harmony and brotherly love. 

The libation of coi-n, wine and oil followed, and the grand chaplain 
then pronounced the following invocation: 

May corn, wine and oil and all the necessaries of life abound among 
men throughout the world ; may the blessing of almighty God be upon this 
undertaking, and may the structure here to be erected rise in beauty and 
strength, and be preserved to the latest ages a monument of the liberality, 
the patriotism and the loyalty of the people for whose service it is to be 
erected. 

Grand Marshal Dunton then escorted the architects of the building, 
Messrs. Robert S. Peabody and John G. Stearns of Boston, to the 
platform. 

Grand Marshal to the Grand Master — I present to you the architects 
of this building. They are ready witli the craftsmen for the work, and ask 
the tools for their task. 

The grand master presented the square, level, plumb and plans to 
the architects, and said: 

To you, Messrs. Architects, are confided the implements of operative 
masonry with the fullest confidence that by your skill and taste an edifice 
will here arise which shall render new service and honor to this busy city. 
^lay it be blessed with wisdom in the plan, strength in the execution, 
beauty in the adornment; and may the Son of Righteousness enlighten 
those who build, the government and the people for whose use this structure 
shall be erected. 

Grand ^^laster Edwin B. Holmes then delivered the following address: 



-92 The Worcester of 1898. 

Mr. Mayor, Ih-ithrcn and l-'clloi^' Citizens: 

We have g-athered in the "Heart of the Commiinwealth " for an impor- 
tant and interesting service. 

The city of Worcester, through the chairman of its Building Committee, 
invites the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts to lay 
with customary forms and ancient ritual the corner-stone of a new edifice to 
be here erected. The invitation was cheerfully and gratefully accepted, 
and the duty has been properly discharged. 

This building, to be called the "City Hall," will be the seat of the execu- 
tive and legislative branches of the City Government. Within its walls will 
preside the authority to govern and the wisdom to advise in producing the 
best results of a free government. This will be the public hearthstone of 
Worcester. Here all citizens have common rights; here, without distinc- 
tion of race, color or religion, they have equal protection ; here, as the 
supreme seat of the aggregate civil authority under the law, all classes may 
find their friend, their guardian and their protector. This is the high altar 
of civil power, the holy place, whence proceeds the paternal authority by 
which this city is to be governed, blessed and prospered. 

In the construction of this edifice the best wishes of the Grand Lodge of 
Massachusetts will continually abide with the city and its government, with 
the builders and the workmen, through who.se united efforts the grand plans 
and specifications of this building will be executed. May there be manifest 
wisdom in its plan, strength in its construction, and beauty in its comple- 
tion, symbolizing the wisdom, strength and beauty of those successive 
governments of civil -administration which shall assemble within its walls. 

In participating in the services of this day, the Grand Lodge of Massa- 
chusetts would express its interest in all that concerns the commonweal. 
Its public efforts are aimed at the public good; its sincere desire is the 
peace and prosperity of all communities in our C<mimonwealth; its constant 
hope the manifestation of the best citizenship and the political, social and 
religious progress of our fellow citizens. It bows its head in sorrow when 
discord breeds destruction in the mercantile or religious world; it deeply 
shares the common joy when peace rules among men, when labor reaps a 
plenteous harvest, and when charity rules supreme in the hearts of men. 
Free Masonry is opposed to wrong wherever the latter sits enthroned or 
grasps for power. Free Masonry is on the side of right, however deeply it 
may be trampled in the dust, and seeks for every man, for every home, for 
every land, the same freedom, equality and blessing it asks for itself. The 
time-honored and venerable motto of an early day is worthy to be a firm 
and lofty landmark in our own: "In necessary things, unity: in non-essen- 
tials, liberty; in all things, charity." 

Thus Free Masonry stanils on the side of law, order, liberty and righteous- 
ness. Rv this ])ublic exercise the order proclaims its belief in the supremacy 
of duly enacted law; the value of social order; the benign blessing of per- 
sonal liberty, and the al)iding glory of that righteousness which exalteth a 
citizen as it doth a nation. 



The Worcester of 1898. 95. 

In conclusion, may the Giver of every good and perfect gift bless all here 
assembled, and abide, a constant joy and defense, in this prosperous city ; 
may this edifice arise from the quarry and the wood to grand and pleasing 
proportions without accident or casualty ; and ma}^ Worcester as Jerusalem 
be a city of peace; and may its citizens experience and cherish the best 
results of liberty, prosperity, charity and religion. 

On the conclusion of his address the grand master said : 

Brother Grand Marshal, vdu will make proclamation that this corner- 
stone has been duly laid in accordance with ancient form and usage. 

Grand Marshal — In the name of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I now proclaim that the corner-stone 
of the structure to be here erected has this day been found square, level and 
plumb, true and trusty, and laid according to the old customs by the grand 
master of Masons. 

This proclamation is made from the east, the west, the south — once 
(trumpet), twice (trumpet twice), thrice (trumpet thrice). 

The proclamation was followed by the following hvmn bv the quar- 
tette : 

Lord ! Thou hast been our dwelling-place 

Through years of old, and ages past; 
And still Thy laws we seek to trace, 

On Thee our trust we humbly cast. 
Father of Light ! Builder Divine ! 
Behold our work, and make it Thine. 

The grand chaplain tlien pronounced the benediction. Then the 
inspiring strains of the "Star Spangled Banner" burst from the grand 
consolidated bands. As the last strains were heard, the guns of the 
Battery, stationed at Salem square, fired a salute of twenty-one guns, 
and the ceremony was over. 



DEDICATION OF THE BUILDING. 

The exercises were in keeping with the dignity and importance of 
the occasion. The music was of a patriotic nature, which told the 
glory of the country of which the city is a part, and the eloquent 
utterances of the speakers, while recounting the brilliancy of the city's 
past, ttrged devotion, steadfastness, and loyalty to the ftiture. Hearts 
were moved anew to love for countrv, and consecrated to better living 
for the citv's advancement. 

Hundreds were in waiting when the doors were thrown open at one 
o'clock, and from that time until the exercises had begun a steady 
stream poured in through the great doors. No attempt was made to 



94 The Worcester of 1898. 

take invitations, bnt all who came were admitted and seated as far as 
possible. A large corps of ushers, under the direction of Charles M. 
Thayer, Esq., looked after the seating of the specially invited gtiests. 
The corridors and stairways on the first, second and third floors were 
filled, within hearing distance, with chairs, all of which were filled 
only too soon. Man}- ladies were among the throng, adding a tinge 
of beauty and sentiment to the scene. 

The voters of 1848 met early at the Quinsigamond National Bank, 
where they were addressed briefly by vSenator George F. Hoar, and 
informally received by him. Shortly after two o'clock they w^ere formed 
in line and marched to the hall under the guidance of General Sprague. 
Special seats were reserved for them on the north staircase and in the 
corridor above. As the gray-haired citizens, many bent with years, 
took their seats, a thrill ran through the great throng. The number 
present was remarkable when the inclemency of the weather is con- 
sidered. Among those present were: 

Edwin Ames, Charles Ballard, Chas. H. Ballard, Amasa Ballou, Wm. 
I. Baker, Levi Barker, Wm. S. Barton, Wm. H. Brown, Alzirus Brown, 
Richard Barker, N. P. Blodgett, A. T. Burgess, Silas Batcheller, Cyrus G. 
Barnard, David J. Baker, Henry H. Chamberlin, Charles S. Childs, Wm. 
L. Clark, Anson Clifford, Loring Coes, Albert Curtis, John A. Dana, Benj. 
J. Dodge, H. W. Eddy, Henry C. Fish, Charles H. Fitch, James A. Fuller, 
Joseph E. Fales, P. B. Gilbert, Henry Goddard, O. B. Hadwen, Elon G. 
Higgins, Hannibal H. Houghton, Leonard Harrington, C. G. Harrington, 
Parker Holden, Wm. E, Hall, Wm. Heald, George G. Hildreth, Samuel 
Hathaway, H. L. Jenks, Alden B. Knight, Franklin H. Knight, Mason H. 
Morse, Milton M. Morse, Samuel Maynard, Hosea McFarland, Henry P. 
Nichols, Abraham H. Newton, John C. Otis, Charles B. Pratt, Samuel A. 
Pratt, George W. Prouty, Addison Palmer, Willard F. Pond, George Park, 
T. W. Rogers, Dexter Rice, James S. Rand, E. Beaman Rice, George F. 
Rice, E. B. Stoddard, A. B. R. Sprague, William A. Smith, John A. Smith. 
F. A. Stratton, Daniel Stratton, Charles Sibley, Stephen Sawyer, Geo. 
Sessions, Benjamin F. Scribner, Charles S. Staples, Frederick G. Stiles, 
Ezra Sawyer, S. N. Story, P. D. Towne, Albert Tyler, Caleb A. Wall, A. 
J. Warfield, Alonzo Whitcomb, Jonas White. Wm. H. Walker, George R. 
Wesson, W. A. Williams, R. G. AVhite. 

In the vast assemblage occupying every portion of the building were 
nearly all of Worcester's prominent and professional men. Hardlv a 
member of the Board of Aldermen, Common Council or School Com- 
mittee was missing. The representation of local pastors and many 
retired ones was large, from both the Protestant and Catholic churches. 
Among others present were: 

Honorable Stephen Salisbury, General Josiah Pickett and yi. Y. B. Jeffer- 
son of the License Commission, Secretary James Draper, and Commissioner 



The Worcester of 1898. 95 

Wm. Hart of the Parks Commission, President J. F. Lehy of Holv Cmss 
C<->llege, Librarian S. S. Green, Principal D. W. Abercrombie of "Wor- 
cester Academy, Judge Francis A. Gaskill, State Senator Alfred S. Roe, 
Ex-Alderman D. W. Darling, D. A. Harrington, Enoch Earle, W. A. Lytle, 
Honorable John R. Thayer, State Senator Ellery B. Crane, Clerk of Courts 
T. S. Johnson. Superintendent of Schools Clarence F. Carroll, and many 
others. 

During the half hour preceding the opening of the exercises, during 
which time the larger part of the guests were seated, Battery B Band, 
stationed under the staircase in the basement, furnished a concert pro- 
gramme. A large force of patrolmen, under the personal supervision 
of Chief of Police J. M. Drennan, Capt. D. A. ISIatthews and Lieut. 
Johnson, assisted the ushers in their work. 

Shortly before 2. 1 5 the music ceased, and for a moment there was 
a lull. A moment later the band strtrck up " Hail to the Chief," and a 
btizz of expectation ran through the great throng. Presently Charles 
il. Thayer appeared escorting flavor Dodge, with Chairman Sawyer 
and Commissioner Prentice of the Citv Hall Commission,'^ President 
Burton W. Potter of the Board of Aldermen, the orator of the day, 
and Rev. Archibald McCullagh, D. D., chaplain of the occasion. After 
them came the mayor's guests. A burst of applause greeted the party 
as they took their seats on the speaker's platform, which was on the 
landing of the main staircase. The guests took the seats on the 
staircase at the right. 

Also occupying seats on the speaker's platform were: Ex-]\Iayors 
Edward L. Davis, Charles B. Pratt, E. B. Stoddard, Charles G. Reed, 
F. A. Harrington, Henn- A. I\Iarsh. Atigustus B. R. Sprague. and 
L'nited vStates Senator George F. Hoar. 

The music had hardly ceased when Chairman Sawyer called the 
assemblage to order and made the following remarks: 

Mr. J/tiror, Gcntlcnun of t lie City Govcnunciit , Ftilozc CitLzcns. Ladies and 
Gciitloncii : 
The occasion which calls us together is an exceptional and interesting 
one in the history of our city. Although the growth of Worcester has been 
steady and rapid for many years, there has been no change in the size and 
character of its public buildings to correspond with this growth. But 
recently a new departure has taken place in this particular. Our steadily 
increasing volume of business demanded a new post office, which has just 
been completed. On our chief business thoroughfares stately and hand- 
some structures have been reared for business, banking and insurance 
purposes. 

* Andrew Athy, the third member of the City Hall Commission, was unable to be present, 
owing to serious illness which resulted in his death a few weeks later. 



96 The Worcester of 1898. 

We meet to-day to hand over to the city a new hall to be dedicated 
to its uses. The building has been planned and built not only to meet 
present needs, but to provide for its probable growth and demands of a 
century to come. If, however, this city should expand in less time beyond 
our expectations and require a still larger building, we hope that those who 
may then gather to dedicate it may feel as much interest and pride in it as 
we feel in this hall to-day. But it belongs to the orator of the day to speak 
in fitting terms of the significance of this occasion, which marks a new era 
in the history of our city. 

Rev. Dr. McCuUat^'h then invoked the divine blessing in the follow- 
ing words : 

Holy and almighty God, although we cannot see Thee with the bodily 
eye, nor hear Thee with the physical ear, nor touch Thee with the hand 
of sense. Thou art not far from any one of us. In Thee we live and 
move, and have our being. We adore Thee for what Thou art in Thy- 
self, ineffable in majesty, immaculate in holiness, infinite in mercy, and 
unchangeable in love. We praise Thee that Thou hast made us in Thine 
own image, with minds capable of appreciating Thy wisdom, power and 
glory, as revealed in the splendors and wonders of material creation and in 
Thy Holy Word, and also with hearts that can reciprocate Thy love. We 
thank Thee for the existence of Christian civilization in the world, and for 
its progress through the ages in overthrowing tyranny, banishing slavery, 
and developing among the peoples of the earth a growing consciousness of 
the universal brotherhood of man. We bless Thee for the land we fondly 
call our own, for the vastness of her acreage, for the treasures of her hills, 
for the productiveness of her plains, for her civil and religious institutions 
which contemplate the largest liberty, the highest well-being, and the 
truest happiness of man. We thank Thee for the occasion which calls us 
together at this time. We pray for Thy blessing to rest upon this city, 
recognized among the favored cities of the land for its manufacturing skill, 
industrial enterprise, educational advantages and religious privileges. By 
Thy grace we dedicate this symmetrical, stately and massive hall to the 
purposes for which it has been built. We dedicate it to the highest inter- 
ests of our municipal government and the public weal. Bless those who 
have rendered valuable, efficient and faithful service in planning and super- 
vising -its erection with a singleness of eye to the public good. Grant that 
the business which may be transacted within its walls through coming 
generations as long as it shall stand, may be done in that spirit of right- 
eousness which is well pleasing to Thee and which exalts a people. 

Bless the chief magistrate of this city, all who occupy positions of official 
authority and responsibility, and all the people within its boundaries. May 
all realize that the truest wealth, most enduring prosperity, and highest 
honor of a city lie in character moulded by the truths revealed through 
conscience and the glorious Gospel of our blessed Lord. 

O Thou supreme Ruler of the destiny of nations, our God and our 
fathers' God, we commend to Thy special favor our beloved country in this 



The Worcester of 1898. 



97 



hour of her conflict with a foreign nation. Thou knuwest that our obiect 
as a people m this war is not for terrestrial acquisition, military glory or 
national aggrandizement, but to rescue men, women and children from 
amine, disease and death due to misrule, and to adyance the cause of 
humane rulership and Christian ciyilization. Giye wisdom to our president 
Counsel all his adyisers. Grant, we beseech Thee, swift and signal yictory 
to our nayal forces, that the desolations, disorders and sufferings incident 
to prolonged warfare may be ayerted. Shield our braye men, who may 
guard our coast or meet the enemy on foreign soil, from wounds and death 
at the hands of the enemy, and from diseases incident to unfayorable 
climatic conditions and exposure. 

All these things we humbly ask in the name of our blessed Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit we 
give praise. A?in'n. ^ 

Chairman Sawyer then delivered the following address: 
For many years there existed a feeling among our citizens that the needs 
growth and best interests of our city demanded a new city hall buildino' 
A\ hile this feeling has been in the air for almost a decade, as there were 
differences of opinion as to a suitable site, it did not crystallize and take 
definite form until a little less than three years ago. On June 3 180, an 
order was passed by which the mayor was authorized to advertise for and 
obtain competitive plans and specifications for a new city hall buildino- the 
cost of which should not exceed $300,000, and that the sum of $5,000 should 
be paid as a compensation to competitors furnishing said plans. On Novem 
her 13, 1895, a commission was created, consisting of three commissioners 
who were clothed with the power to proceed with the erection of said build' 
mg m substantial compliance with the plans which had been submitted 
by Messrs. Peabody & Stearns of Boston. Your commissioners, after care 
fully considermg the work assigned them, became satisfied that it would be 
unwise-to limit their expenditure to $300,000. A granite structure of such 
grace and proportions as would make it an architectural ornament to our 
city one constructed and equipped according to the most approved scientific 
niethods, and that would meet the needs of the future, would require more 
than double that amount. Your commissioners revised the architectural 
plans originally submitted and asked for an appropriation of $650 000 
They are pleased to say that their judgment was approved, and the full 
amount asked for was granted without a dissenting voice Then an oppor 
tunity was offered to builders to compete for its erection. All bids were 
to be sent to the chairman by April 20, 1896. When they were opened 
by the commissioners, they found that the bid of Norcross Brothers was 
^58,968 lower than the next lowest bid, and $143,000 lower than the hio-hest 
bid. The contract for the building was awarded to Norcross Brothers 
April 23, 1896. The contract called for the completion of the building 
January i, 189S. All the other contracts were made to be completed at the 
same time. But owing to contingencies and unavoidable delays a little 
longer time than was anticipated has been required f.,r its completion 




WILLIAM H. SAWYER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 99 

Your commissioners realized the importance of the work committed 
to them, and appreciated the confidence reposed in them, consequently 
they have given almost daily personal attention to this work. They have 
devoted the best part of their time for a period of two years to its super- 
vision. They have used their best judgment to secure the best quality of 
material and finest workmanship, at the lowest price, both in the structure 
itself and in the heating, ventilation, ornamentation and furnishing. Their 
contracts have been made directly with manufacturers, thus obtaining 
everything at first cost. 

Your commissioners have consulted the heads of the various departments 
as to what arrangements would best subserve the convenience and efficiency 
of their respective departments, and as far as practicable have utilized their 
knowledge and experience. If the commissioners have failed to give satis- 
faction on every point to all parties, their failure has not been intentional, 
but due to the necessities of the case. All those who have had any expe- 
rience in erecting large buildings know that it is impossible to have in a 
great building of this kind every minute arrangement to suit everyone. 
Some little things must be sacrificed for the largest convenience and the 
greatest advantage of the whole. 

It is not necessary for your commissioners to speak in terms of com- 
mendation and praise of the builders, whose name is a synonym for skillful 
workmanship, fidelity in the fulfillment of contract obligations, and business 
honor. They have won for themselves an enviable fame throughout the 
land. But in addition to the accustomed skill and fidelity with which they 
do their work, they took a personal pride in the erection of this building, 
which is to serve and adorn their own city. Your commissioners desire to 
express their thanks to their efficient superintendent, Mr. S. F. French, for 
his uniform courtesy and unfailing kindness. He has the rare faculty of 
directing his workmen so that his plans are executed with system and 
dispatch, and apparently without giving any orders. 

It is peculiarly gratifying to be able to say that no one was killed or 
seriously injured in the work upon this building. 

Your commissioners have worked together without friction or differences 
of opinion, and in perfect harmony. 

Much has been said in recent times of municipal misrule and wasteful 
extravagance in the erection of public buildings, for which, too often, there 
have been good grounds. The experience of many cities has been that 
when their buildings have been completed, the cost has far exceeded the 
original estimates and expectations, and they have been loaded with heavy 
deficits. Your commissioners felicitate themselves in presenting an excep- 
tion. They take honest and, they think, legitimate pride in finishing this 
massive and majestic structure, complete in all its appointments, rich in its 
ornamentation and elegant in its furnishing, with every necessit}^ supplied, 
from the clock in its tower to the broom and dust-brush, for $23,031.23 less 
than the amount appropriated. (Applause.) 

Mr. Mayor, this commission, which to-day ends its work and passes into 
historv, was created under the administration of the Honorable Henrv A. 



100 The Worcester of 1898. 

Marsh. But its work has been done largely during the administration of 
your immediate predecessor, General Augustus B. R. Sprague, who, with 
characteristic courtesy, was ever ready to lay his experience, counsel and 
time at the service of the commissioners. We now, Mr. Mayor, place in 
your hands the keys of this hall where the official business of the city is to 
be transacted, with which act our responsibility ends. 

Your commissioners, who have watched every stage of the work from the 
breaking of the first sod to the completion of the structure, in surrendering 
their trust, as citizens, express the hope that all the public business — legis- 
lative, executive and clerical — transacted here, may be transacted in that 
spirit which will always reflect honor upon this city, of whose growth, 
energy, enterprise and fair fame all are justly proud. 

^layor Dodge responded as follows : 
Mr. Chainnan and Gcntlcincn of the City Hall Cotiiiiiission : 

In accepting this token of delivery, signifying the transfer from your 
commission to the city of Worcester of the building erected under your 
direction, in pursuance to authority delegated by the municipality, it is my 
privilege to thank you, in behalf of the people, for services rendered in such 
an able, conscientious and generous manner, and to voice the feelings of 
this community by expressing universal satisfaction in the results of your 
work. 

In committing this charge to you, and in approving your acts as your 
duty ends, the people have given a treasure equal to any that citizens as 
such can give and receive — confidence in worth and honor. 

A task unsought, but a labor cheerfully assumed at the public call, the 
end sees that high esteem which prompted the confidence, more abundant 
even now than then. 

The thanks and praise of your fellows are the only reward received for the 
faithful labor so freely given. 

Yet, after all, this itself is a rich recompense when viewed from man- 
hood's level— as high above the worth of gold as is the noble charity that 
makes a self-denying giver above the miser's avarice. 

The people now, with one accord, without reserve, and with no halting 
commendation, approve your course with such a genuine spirit as leaves 
you yet their debtors. 

The historv of Worcester, as town and city, is replete with incidents 
showing a community wise, conservative but progressive in business and 
public affairs, loyal to the traditions of its founders, patriotic toAvard 
national government, and beneficent in voluntary public benefits. Like 
other New England towns, it was founded amid hardship and privation. 

To us can come no more inspiring thoughts than those aroused by con- 
templation of the works wrought by the pioneers. 

Surrounded by menaces threatening their families as well as their com- 
munity, they met all situations as firm as the hills upon whose summits, or 
in whose valleys, were built homes of virtue and devout religion. 



The Worcester of 1898. loi 

Winthrop wrote that "the best part is always the least, and of that best 
part the wiser part is always the lesser." 

Hooker answered "in matters which concern the common good, a general 
council, chosen by all, to transact business which concerns all. I conceive 
most suitable to rule and most safe for relief of the whole." 

Thus early did Hooker block out the keystone destined to hold the arch of 
American free self-government in the temple of her civil libertv. 

There never was a time, from the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth 
soil to the Declaration of Independence, when fibre was not being united 
into the structure of a republic by a race guided of destiny, in giving to the 
world what the world most needed. 

The great hereafter was first in our fathers' lives, but in its shadow, where 
their souls constantly dwelt, they did not forget the great present, lapsing 
into history, to ultimately teach coming generations its momentous im- 
port. 

Their church, their school, and their town meeting were the three great 
lights of their lives. 

By the first thev saw immortality: the second lit the way to future 
greatness of their race upon this continent: while the third searched out a 
government of absolute equality. 

The town house was the forum wliere the people's rights were championed 
by voice and vote. 

From that palladium, reflected by the rays of the dawning light of equal 
rights, arose a splendor beyond the prestige of castle or palace, more potent 
than the power of kings and princes, rendering every citizen a sovereign 
and no man a serf. 

Plain, direct and effective were the civil functions of colonial govern- 
ment. 

No circuitous path led from the people to the power, save where mon- 
archy reached its hand across the sea; and when that was shaken from the 
land, there stood the transcendent form of civil liberty, more perfect in all 
her lines than ever yet was seen. 

Our towns have grown to cities, yet have we preserved the substance 
iif the lessons learned from these masters of their creed. Even to this 
day we recognize that every modification of the original town govern- 
ment tending toward centralization, is not for improvement in system, 
but to meet changed conditions of the times. 

Fitting it is that the place where the people, through their chosen repre- 
sentatives, transact the public business, should be among the best within 
our city. 

Sacred to us is the place where history was made by a sturdy people, 
who, like the rugged oak, withstood the storms with strength bred of 
adversity. 

Here, where our history began, will it continue through the years to come, 
to what end no mind can foresee. 

Our fondest hope can give no more' glory to the future than crowns the 
past. But, full of confidence in the human race, let us dedicate this spot 



I02 The Worcester of 1898. 

where our fathers met to weave a portion of the faultless fabric of self-gov- 
ernment, designed by the noblest aims of man, to its preservation, with a 
fidelity of heart no less patriotic and no less self-denying than marked their 
noble lives. 

We receive from you a structure representing to us what the town house 
of 1825 did 'to the citizens of that time. 

As in days before that time the .place of worship was the place of civil 
rule, let something of the sanctity surrounding public deliberations then 
invest us still, maintaining free the spotless name of Worcester's corporate 
life. 

You have buiUled well what well does represent our city's strength and 
progress. Useful first, then beautiful and grand, may this substantial 
building endure long after the memories of this day have passed. But 
so long as it recalls with interest the history of its existence, so long will 
largest honor be coupled with your names. 

Outlasting the granite of these walls, may our city live in honor and suc- 
cess, reflecting still the virtues of a race noble, strong and free. 



ADDRESS OF BURTON W. POTTER, ESQ. 

We have met to-day not to recount the hardships and the heroic achieve- 
ments of the early settlers of Worcester, though we are not uninindful of our 
indebtedness to them. We have assembled to dedicate a new city hall, to 
be used for municipal purposes in our thriving and growing city. Surely it 
will not be out of place in these dedicatory exercises to review briefly the 
history and progress of our municipal government. Inasmuch as we are 
soon to celebrate the semi-centennial anniversary of the city's birth, when 
eloquent and accomplished orators will recount the story of humanity's 
growth in this vicinity during the past half century, I will not attempt to 
deal with the general life of ciur penple, but will confine niv remarks to 
things appertaining to municipal affairs. The time at my command is too 
limited to permit me to give in detail the history of our City Government. 
I can only call attentiim tn such things as stand out as landmarks in our 
local afifairs. 

During the first twenty years (_)f Worcester's existence as a city, its 
population did not increase very rapidly, and its local government did 
not differ e.ssentially from the local government of large towns. It had 
a mayor and a city council, but everything was clone under the direction 
of committees. There was no separation between the legislative and the 
executive departments of the government, and no public improvement was 
planned on a large scale. The gold fields of California and the unoccupied 
agricultural regions of the West attracted a large and steady emigration 
from the East, and Worcester, like other eastern cities, was not over- 
crowded with population. But after a while there began to lie a massing 
population in the large towns, and the nineteenth century is closing upon a 
race that desires for the most part to live in cities; and the enlargement of 



The Worcester of 1898. 103 

municipal life is one of the most marked characteristics of this age. Not 
alone in the new world and Australasia are cities springing up as if by 
magic and doubling their population in a decade, but in the old world the 
growth of new cities and the modernization of old ones are the phenomena 
of this century. Sydney and Melbourne, Boston and Chicago are easily 
matched by Liverpool and Copenhagen, Hamburg and Budapest. London, 
Paris and Berlin still maintain their primacy among all the great cities, 
while old cities like Athens, Rome and Amsterdam have doubled their 
population within a generation. 

This increase of urban citizenship has increased the people's interest in 
local self-government, and the functions of municipal government have 
been multiplied and enlarged in a marvelous manner. Worcester, like other 
cities, has caught the spirit of the age, and for the past thirty years her 
population has grown at the rate of 2,000 a year, and more and more 
attention is being given each year to the management of its municipal 
affairs. Worcester now has a population of over a hundred thousand souls, 
and is probably growing to-day as fast as at any period of its history. 
Situated in the midst of a rich agricultural region, at the centre of Massa- 
chusetts and New England, with unsurpassed railroad and educational facil- 
ities, there is no reason why it should not continue to grow until it rivals 
such great inland cities as Manchester and Birmingham in England. And 
its future growth will depend more upon the character of its municipal 
government than upon state or national legislation, or on the size of our 
regular army, or the number of our battleships. Of course an industrious 
and intelligent people may make great progress in business and commercial 
life in spite of poor civic government; but if they can be aided and directed 
by wise and capable officials, who plan all public improvements in the way 
best adapted to promote the development and expansion of the munici- 
pality, and who see that the improvements are made with honesty, economy 
and dispatch, then their progress is likely to advance with increased rapid- 
ity. A wise, self-contained and self-governed people will always enact laws 
and adopt customs adapted to their needs and typical of their state of 
morality and civilization. They always have a government as good as 
they deserve, and therefore the historian can trace their progress in 
the annals which record the growth and improvement of their local govern- 
ment. 

Then by the application of this test let us see how Worcester stands 
before the world. 

Perhaps nothing better illustrates the progressive march of Worcester 
than the growth of the public schools and the character of the teaching 
therein. Since Richard Rogers and John Adams taught in the public 
schools of Worcester to the present hour, there never has been any lack of 
education here. The first classical high school was built on the site of the 
present Classical high school, and cost $25,000. It was dedicated in 1845, 
and was large enough to accommodate 175 pupils. At that time the city 
owned thirteen school-houses and employed thirty-five teachers. The num- 
ber of pupils then enrolled in all the schools was 1,130, and the annual 



104 The Worcester of 1898. 

appropriation for school purposes amounted to $7,700, and the average 
expenditure for each pupil was $6.81. 

Now there are sixty-four school-houses occupied, with three more in pro- 
cess of erection, and 556 teachers in the employ of the city. Last year 
there were 20,004 pupils enrolled in the day schools of the city, and the 
average cost for each pupil was $27.51. The whole expenditure for school 
purposes last year, exclusive of new buildings, amounted to $505,542.36, 
and the assessors' valuation of the school property belonging to the city 
was $2,028,177.43. Beside the great number of day pupils, the city pro- 
vides free evening schools for 1,328 pupils, where the old and the young 
alike who are unable to attend the day .schools, are privileged to seek 
the rudiments of education after their physical toils of the day are 
over. 

This great army of pupils with their teachers constitutes an influential 
and important portion of our population, and proves that our public school 
system is still dear to the hearts of the people. These schools are unsecta- 
rian, and open tt) all. They are conducted upon the theory that children of 
different races and of various religions will be more ready to make conces- 
sions, and will be more tolerant towards each other when they are grown 
up, if they are subjected when young to each other's company, to the same 
rules and to the same instruction. It has always been admitted that the 
chief purpose of the public schools is to draw out and develop the latent 
faculties and talents of children and fit them fiir good and useful citizens of 
the State. To this end our forefathers paid more attention than we do to 
the religious instruction of school children, and to their training in manners 
and deportment ; but nature study, manual training, cooking and scientific 
instruction had no place in their schools. The principal branches of learn- 
ing in their schools were reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar and geog- 
raphy, with Greek and Latin to those pupils who were preparing for college. 
Now the modern languages are crowding out Greek and Latin, and much 
attention is given to the cultivati<>n of the physical sciences, to and instruc- 
tion in knowledge worth having in every-day life. Scientific instruction 
develops the faculty of observation, which is apt when not cultivated to lie 
dormant in many people throughout life. It cultivates habits of accuracy, 
method and arrangement, and it disciplines the mind to level-headedness 
by teaching induction as well as deduction. It also adds .greatly to the 
interest and happiness of life. The more we know the more we can see to 
enjoy in our surroundings, and the delight of living is more full and com- 
plete. Our education is not complete until we turn all the voices of nature 
into a song of rejoicing, and are able to see in the gutter by the wayside 
the image of the sky as well as the sewage of the street. Perhaps this 
manner of teaching impairs the imaginative faculties, but on the whole the 
new way is better than the old. 

1 grieve not that ripe knowledge takes away 
The charm that Nature to my childhood wove, 

For, with that insight, cometh day by day, 
A greater bli.ss than wonder was before. 



The Worcester of 1898. 105 

And again in this age of the world the continual prosperity of a country 
depends chiefly upon its ability to maintain its pre-eminence in the indus- 
trial arts and useful manufactures, and consequently familiarity with all 
the processes of the mechanic arts becomes a necessary part of pul)lic 
education. In our attempt to teach school children something they are 
likely to want to know in every-day life, and which will be helpful to them 
in getting on in the world, we should be careful not ti,i cripple and starve 
classical, moral and literary culture, for it will never do to bring our public 
school education down to the level of mere money-making and to the 
knowledge of something we call capital. Public education is one of the 
most important functions of municipal government, and while we nourish 
and encourage its growth and development, we must take care that it does 
not devour the substance of the people by unnecessary cost and extravagant 
expenditures in its behalf. And we must see to it that the children are 
taught to be good neighbors and useful citizens. Habits of cleanliness and 
truthfulness, principles of virtue and morality should be inculcated, and 
great pains should be taken to nourish their patriotic feelings and to inspire 
them with love of country, and admiration for everything great and noble. 
If this is done, we can look forward without fear to the multiplication of 
our schools and teachers, and with the consoling belief that each additional 
one will increase the prestige and glory of the greater Worcester. 

Closely allied to the public schools and as an adjunct thereto, is the Public 
Library. Books play an importaat part in modern life. In the language 
of Carlyle, "A collection of books is a real university." The schools give 
us a text-book education and teach us how to acquire knowledge, and this 
service is of great use to us, but it is not to be compared in value and 
importance to the education which we give ourselves by close observation 
and by the reading of good literature. In books we find the precious 
thoughts and the life-blood of the master spirits of every age. They are 
an unfailing source of joy, inspiration and of consolation in every phase 
of life. 

Dreams, books, are each a world; and books we know- 
Are a substantial world, both pure and good; 
Round these with tendrils strong as flesh and blood 
Our pastime and our happiness will grow. 

Worcester has been fortunate in citizens of wise heads and large hearts, 
who have on opportime occasions endowed the city with timely and large- 
hearted benefactions, that set in motion or help to advance municipal func- 
tions in different departments. When Dr. John Green, of blessed memory, 
gave to Worcester the basis of its Public Library, he laid the foundation 
of an institution that has already had, and will continue to have, a deep 
and far-reaching influence on the life and civilization of this city. And 
although he expected that his gift would extend the bounds of knowledge 
and increase the happiness of mankind, yet he did not fully realize the 
magnificent results of his action, and he builded better than he knew. 
Little did he dream that within forty years from the time he gave the 
city 7,000 volumes for the nucleus of a free public library, there would be 



i6o The Worcester of 1898. 

in that library over 1 16,000 brxiks, and 500 magazines and papers ; that in 
the circulating department m<ire than 210,000 books would be annually 
taken out and read by the people of Worcester; that another 100,000 
volumes would each year be consulted for information upon various sub- 
jects; that a vast number of people would yearly visit the reading-rooms 
connected with the library, and that in the year 1898 the City Government 
would appropriate $1,500 for sub-library delivery stations, and $2,500 for 
the establishment of reading-rooms in the outlying districts of the city. 

Under wise and competent management our Public Library has become 
a part and parcel of the educational system of the city. It has widened 
the meaning of life to multitudes of young people, and trained them to a 
greater interest in books and literature. It has furnished our mechanics 
and artisans with the scientific knowledge requisite to their improvement 
in all branches of industrial pursuits. It has enlarged the intelligence and 
ennobled the life of all classes of our jieople, and in this way it has brought 
happiness as well as prosperity to our municipality. In view of the results 
achieved this function of our municipal government should be assiduously 
cultivated, and never allowed to fall behind the needs of a progressive and 
enlightened community. 

A good water supply has always been considered a necessary adjunct to 
every city. Pure water is conducive to health and cleanliness, and so essen- 
tial to the welfare of city people that some municipal reformers claim that 
water should be as free as air and sunlight, and furnished to all the people 
without charge. If a city was so fortunately situated that it could control 
at a reasonable expense an inexhaustible supply of water, it might be good 
policy for it to furnish its inhabitants with free water; but to the ordinary 
city it would seem that such a liberal [lolicy could not be followed with 
justice or advantage to the entire population. But no doubt it is gdod 
policy for every city which desires to keep in the procession of nn)dern 
civilization to spare no reasonable expense to furnish its inhabitants with 
an abundance of pure water at very low rates. 

When Worcester became a city fifty years ago, the inhabitants relied 
mainly upon wells and springs for their water supply. The water from 
Bell ])ond had been brought into the village and carried through several 
streets in small pipes, but three years after the organization of the city 
there were imly fifty -six water-takers. The meagre supply sufficed until 
1S64, when the citizens felt the need of a more abundant supply, and voted 
to introduce water into the city from Lynde brook, and the water from 
this source first flowed into the city November 4 of that year. This was 
a great epoch in the history of Worcester. The event was celebrated by 
a meeting in Mechanics Hall, and it was then thought that no further 
supply of water would be needed for half a century at least. But it only 
tndk a few years to demonstrate the short-sightedness of the wise men of 
that period, for in 1S76 the city established another source of supply at 
Hunt's reservoir. In 1883 another supply was established at the Holden 
reservoir, and now we are engaged in conducting a still larger inexhaustible 
supply from Kettle brook into the city. The water-takers have increased 



The Worcester of 1898. 107 

from 56 to 28,217, '^ii'-l the water-pipes have been extended until there 
are now over i6o miles of them in the highways of the city. The cost of 
the plant has already reached $3,000,000, with the prospect of a very large 
increase in the immediate future. But fortunately the Water Department 
has always paid its way. and last year the income exceeded the ordinary 
e.xpenses by $61,423.79. 

The question of sewage disposal is an old one, but its utilization seems to 
be a modern problem. In the ancient world the large sewers in Nineveh, 
Babylon, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Carthage, Rome and other great cities all 
led down to rivers or other bodies of water, from which it appears to be an 
old custom of mankind to pour the sewage abtiminations of their cities into 
the nearest water courses. 

This system worked very well until inland towns became great cities and 
streams became dotted with factories of every kind and description. Then 
the sewage of towns and the refuse of factories polluted the water and 
filled it with decomposing matter and every fecal abomination under the 
sun, so that fish could not live in it, nor man or beast drink it, and then 
it became apparent that something must be done to purify the sewage 
either before or after it reached the nearest stream. Worcester got along 
with cesspools and private sewers until 1866, when the City Council was 
authorized to construct public sewers, and the following year Worcester 
acquired the right by an act of the Legislature "to appropriate Mill brook 
and other brooks therein named for the purpose of sewerage, drainage and 
the public health." 

Immediately after the passage of this law the city proceeded to construct 
main and lateral sewers for the health and convenience of the people, and 
it now maintains more than 112 miles of such sewers within the city limits. 
We now have a sewer department and a superintendent of sewers, and 
under his supervision the city is engaged in the gigantic attempt to dispose 
of the city's sewage in such a way as not to pollute the Blackstone river. 
The problem of sewage disposal and its utilization is one that has long 
engaged the attention of scientific authorities, but they are not agreed as 
to the methods, some favoring one method and some another, and some 
claiming that there never will be any satisfactory solution of the vexed 
question. 

O star-eyed .Science, hast thou wandered there 
To waft us home the message of despair? 

It must be admitted that it is an unsolved problem, but its proper 
solution is so necessary to the health and growth of modern civic life that 
in all probability some satisfactory mode of sewage disposal will be dis- 
covered before many years. 

Our sewage purification works are being so constructed that both surface 
irrigation and chemical precipitation methods may be practiced, though 
chemical precipitation is the chief method now in use here. The proper 
disposal of sewage is really a part of sanitary administration, for health 
laws are of little avail so long as sewage and filthy refuse remain near 



io8 The Worcester of 1898. 

human habitations. In other days sanitation received little attention from 
■city officials. When cholera or a plague appeared and swept off the popu- 
lation by thousands, it was thought to be a visitation or scourge of God, 
and nothing was done to purify the atmosphere. Now a sanitary depart- 
ment is considered an essential part of every good city government. In 
the most progressive cities of Europe and this country the administration 
of sanitary affairs has been carried to great perfection. All the streets and 
open spaces are swept every day, and frequently washed, and street scaven- 
gers are employed to gather up every particle of filth or litter as soon as it 
appears upon the street, and boards of health look after stables, bakeries, 
plumbing, and the rigid enforcement of all health laws. This kind of sani- 
tary administration has reduced the death-rates in many cities to a very 
low figure, and made them as safe dwelling-places as the country. 

Worcester has a Board of Health which was organized in 1878, with 
authority to make rules and regulations relating to nuisances, sources (jf 
filth and disease. Our Street Department has also begun to sweep and 
clean frequently the most traveled streets in the central part of the city. 
But there is room for improvement in our manner of allowing many streets 
to be littered with papers and sweepings, and many back alleys to become 
filthy with store refuse and other garbage. However, there is a growing 
public opinion in favor of stringent and advanced methods of sanitation. 
Last year our first public bathing-house was opened, and the first order 
was issued to stop improper expectoration in street cars and other public 
places, and this year the first man was convicted and fined in our Municipal 
Court for littering up a public street with mud and dirt. 

Then sanitation in a broad sense should be recognized as one of the 
essential functions of our City Government. Disease is no respecter tif 
locality, and it is dangerous to leave pestilence-breeding slums in back 
streets or at the back doors of dwelling-houses. No home can be happy 
and comfortable without healthy environments, and no city without suitable 
sanitary arrangements can long hold a high place among the enterprising 
cities of the land. 

Among the interesting and important pr(.)blems of the day is the question 
of good roads. The desirability of good roads is happily no longer an open 
question among intelligent people. Everywhere it is admitted that they 
are indicative of human progress, and the desideratum in every progressive 
community. Along their lines are to be found the fairest villages and the 
must thrifty homesteads, while at their termini are situated the great cities 
of the wiirld. In the ancient world all roads led to Rome; in the modern 
world good roads lead out of every first-class city. 

One of the characteristics of a jjublic highway is that it is open to travel 
for all mankind. A Chinaman, a Turk, or a peasant from Italy or Armenia 
has just as good a right to travel iqnm a road in Worcester as our mayor or 
the president of the United States. At first the highways in this country 
were used by footmen, equestrians, and travelers in wagons or sleighs, and 
by the adjoining owners for pasturage and dumping-ground. In time the 
demands and conveniences of advancing civilization required lliat the public 



The Worcester of 1898. 109 

ways should be used for other purposes of a public nature. Sewer, gas and 
water pipes were placed beneath the surface of the ground, and overhead 
wires were strung for the transmission of intelligence by electricity. 

The horse-car was deemed by many a new-fangled mode of conveyance, 
but after much opposition it was decided that a portion of the road might 
well be set aside for it, although the rights of other travelers to some extent 
were limited by the privileges necessary for its use. And now electric cars, 
horseless carriages and elevated railroads are making their appearance in 
our cities, and the bicycle is a familiar object on all our public ways. New 
modes of travel always cause more or less inconvenience, but if their 
advantages are greater than their disadvantages, they will find a place in 
the public ways. Should human ingenuity invent new modes of travel 
superior to those now in use, no doubt room would be found for them in 
our highways, if they had to be widened for that purpose. Happily our 
laws and ways of living are not unchangeable, but are capable of adjustment 
to new conditions in the every-day life of our people. 

When Worcester became a city there were no paved or macadamized 
streets here. In March, 1847, Levi Lincoln, in behalf and by the order of a 
committee appointed to consider the advisability of paving "any or all of 
Main street," made a report to the town wherein he said: "The condition 
of Main street, at all seasons of the year, except when the earth is covered 
with snow, has been a subject of very general and loud complaint. In dry 
weather the dust therefrom has been intolerable; and in times of rain the 
mud has rendered passing, for days in succession, uncomfortable, and, to 
persons on foot, all but impracticable. The process of covering the street 
with gravel affords but a partial and temporary relief, requiring frequent 
renewal, and of considerable annual expense in its application. If an 
effectual remedy can be found for these inconveniences, at a reasonable 
cost, there can be no doubt that the town should immediately set about 
it. But the committee cautioned their fellow townsmen to be careful of 
incurring a lasting debt for this or any other municipal improvement. 
Their warning in this respect contains so much wisdom, and is so applicable 
to the present as well as to the past, that it deserves a place on a tablet in 
this hall. It said: "To incur debt without providing for its redemption, 
is no more wise in a community than in an individual; and it can hardly be 
more just to borrow money by devolving the obligation to its repayment 
upon those who shall come after us. The committee would not be under- 
stood to interpose an argument, arising from an occasion to borrow, against 
the undertaking of any work, which the present interest and comfort of the 
town may require, and where at the same time, provision is made that 
those for whose immediate enjoyment the improvement is directed, shall 
be fairly held to a corresponding contribution to its cost. The inducement, 
even to desirable objects, may be too often repeated; that the expense may 
be postponed to a distant future; that money can be borrowed at a low rate 
of interest ; or that posterity, inheriting the benefit, may be left to pay the 
equivalent. But this is neither the just nor the manly course to pursue. 
Posteritv will have its own purposes and responsibilities. The progress of 



no The Worcester of 1898. 

society will devolve upon each successive generation new and appropriate 
duties and obligations, even greater, higher, more pressing, it may be, than 
those of our time. As our fathers left us of this day the blessings of 
institutions, the fruits of their toil and sacrifices, disembarrassed of the 
incumbrance of a single farthing of debt — nay, more; as along with these 
blessings we received, at their hands, the benefit of a pre-existing fund, of 
no inconsiderable amount, it surely is the more incumbent upon us to take 
heed to it that we bind no heavy burdens, upon those who in turn are to 
meet the requirements and fulfill the duties of the age in which they live. 
The committee, therefore, will not refrain from expressing the opinion that 
if the town now vote to pave the street, a portion of the tax to meet the 
expense should be granted the present year, and a pledge given to raise 
the residue of the money at the shortest convenient period." 

In 1849 the paving of the streets of Worcester began, and Main street 
was paved from Front to Exchange street, and the process has gone on 
until to-day we have over eleven miles of paved streets and ninety miles of 
jiaved sidewalks. The invention of asphalt and other paving material has 
so reduced the expense of pavement that ere long the central streets of the 
city will be paved and a sidewalk will pass by every man's door. 

But the proper pavement of streets is not all they need for the public 
good. They should be wide, well lighted, and unobstructed by merchandise, 
electric poles and wires, unsightly sign-boards, and dangerous street railway 
tracks and railroad grade crossings. The removal of telephone, telegraph, 
electric and street railway poles and wires would without doubt increase 
the beauty and convenience of city streets, and the accomplishment of this 
object should be kept in view by our municipal authorities tmtil the last 
pole has disappeared and the last wire has found a home beneath the surface 
of the ground. The crossing of a highway and railroad at grade mars 
the beauty and convenience of the way, and is moreover a dangerous and 
expensive thing. These dangerous and odious crossings are not tolerated 
in the enlightened cities of Europe, and it is time the}^ disappeared in Amer- 
ican cities. And in their abolition the cheapest plans consistent with the 
safe passage of railroad trains should not alone be considered, for the work 
is, or .should be, of a permanent nature, and therefore it should be satis- 
factory to the eye of taste. An overhead bridge or under-ground passage 
across a railroad may be traveled for ages to come, and every year the 
public ways are used for some new convenience in the onward march of 
human progress, and therefore the bridges over or under the public thor- 
oughfares should be made both wide and high enough to meet the reason- 
able and prospective demands of advancing civilization. And in cities and 
villages, especially, these bridges and their abutments not only should 
be thorough in workmanship, but should also be spacious and beautiful. 
Whenever the conformation of the ground is favorable, the highway should 
pass over the railroad, and when of necessity it is put under the iron rails, 
it should not descend into a hollow where water, mud and snow will accu- 
mulate and remain to annoy and inconvenience travelers; neither should 
the bridge overhead be openwork, through which the rain and the drippings 



The Worcester of 1898. m 

from the cars are liable to descend upon the teams below; but every such 
bridge should be sufficiently covered to protect the highway travelers and 
save their horses from fright. The City Council has appointed a special 
commission to consider the question in all its bearings, and to report their 
recommendations as soon as practicable. It is hoped that this committee 
may be able to suggest some satisfactory and advantageous line of action, 
but the commission should be aided by an aroused public sentiment on the 
subject. 

The art of beautifying a city is a feature of municipal government which 
has been highly cultivated in municipalities like Athens and Florence, and 
which should not be overlooked in these modern days, when the utility of 
the beautiful counts for so much in every phase of human life. 

Worcester itself is beautiful for situation amidst the hills and valleys 
which environ it. It has become customary with us to admit that the 
scenery of the Berkshire hills and of the Connecticut valley is superior in 
beauty and loveliness to that around our own homes. Whether this is due 
to the generosity of our natures, or to the fact that distance lends enchant- 
ment to the view, I know not ; but I doubt whether there is any scenery in 
Massachusetts which surpasses that in Worcester county in real beauty of 
outline, in extensive and variegated views, and in loveliness of domestic 
landscape. 

We do not need to go to Italy, Switzerland or the White ]kIountains for 
gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, for we have them here, together with the 
other glories of nature, at our very doors. 

Worcester is situated at the centre of this rural grandeur, with the beau- 
tiful Lake Quinsigamond at its eastern doors, the stately Asnebumskit on 
its western borders and the majestic Wachusett in the north. Nature has 
dowered it with beauty, and its people have been wise and progressive 
enough to adorn it with a park system that is now, and forever will be, the 
pride and glor)- of Worcester. 

Trees in themselves are so restful and refreshing, so graceful and beau- 
tiful, that we are glad to see them in almost any spot, yet they are out of 
place in the great business streets of large cities, but on residential streets 
and in public parks and squares they are an ornament and convenience. 
And nothing gives greater charm and attractiveness to a city than lovely 
parks. They are a solace and joy to every lover of nature, and of infinite 
satisfaction to the eye of taste. They are as necessary to the health and 
adornment of cities as lawns and gardens are for the proper environment of 
private dwellings. As no home grounds are too good for children to play 
on or adults to walk upon, so public parks should be used as the play- 
grounds and pleasure resorts of the masses of the people. 

Lawn tennis and cricket clubs are allowed to use the public parks of 
England, and children are permitted to swim in the lakes and ponds therein, 
while on the continent race-courses are sometimes found in the public 
parks. A city which does not maintain public bathing-houses should at 
least provide ponds and lakes for the people to bathe and swim in during 
the summer, and to skate upon in the winter. Nearly everybody enjoys 



112 The Worcester of 1898. 

congregated human life, and they hke to take their amusement and recrea- 
tion in common. And it is not out of place for a city to furnish a little 
police protection to its people while engaged in outdoor pleasures. 

We go to great expense to protect travelers on tlie streets from robbers 
and highwaymen, and to keep them from being run over at grade crossings 
and congested street-corners. We also spend lavish stims of money to give 
our children mental education, but it is just as important that they should 
be well developed physically as mentally, because a strong body is necessarv 
for the sustenance of a strong mind. It is necessary for the proper physical 
growth and development of children that they take all kinds of exercise, 
such as boating, skating, ball-playing, coasting, swimming, and various other 
kinds of outdoor recreations. They not only should have an opportunity to 
engage in these amusements, but they should be permitted to engage in 
them with as much safety as possible. 

The promotion of health is now justly regarded as one of the objects of 
government. Good drainage and vaccination are not the only means avail- 
able for the promotion of the public health. The health of people cannot 
be improved more surely and in a better way than by educating them into 
the habit of taking plenty of exercise in the open air. 

In 1862 the City Council created a board of commissioners of shade trees 
and public grounds, and appropriated $300 to their use for the planting of 
shade trees and the care of the old Common. In 1885, under authority of 
an act of the Legislattire, the Board of Park Commissioners was created 
and Worcester extended its park system in such a way as to locate a park in 
each section of the city, and there are now twelve parks, covering an area 
of 367 acres. To Horace H. Bigelow and Edward L. Davis we are indebted 
for the extensive park on the lovely shores of Lake Quinsigamond. David 
S. Messinger gave us Fairmount ])ark: and the generosity of Stephen Salis- 
bury has given us the beautiful Institute park, all complete. Thomas H. 
Dodge is entitled to our thanks for Dodge park; and the good taste and 
untiring zeal of the late Edward W. Lincoln made Elm park the gem of the 
whole system. The people of the city have willingly taxed themselves for 
over a quarter of a million dollars to buy park land, besides all they have 
expended for the care and adornment of the parks. 

To our hands these parks and the public streets are committed for care 
and preservation, and it is clearly the duty of the City Government to 
beautify them by green grass and shade trees, and in every other way 
possible to array them in robes more beautiful than the glory of Solomon. 

There is also another function of municipal government which has been 
exercised in a manner to make an impress upon our minds to-day. and 
which constitutes an object lesson for us all. 

A city can be beautified by the erection of artistic public buildings. Fine 
architecture in public or private buildings is the artistic expression of the 
fitness of things. It is the art of teaching by example. Every stately and 
u-ell-constructed building is an object lesson which instructs and pleases 
the lover of the beautiful every time he passes by it, and thereby he is con- 
stantly being educated by a process all the more effective because it works 



The Worcester of i8g8. 113 

by absorption rather than by direct impartation. The great majority of 
people have not the means, if they had the taste, to erect buildings stately 
and beautiful from an architectural point of view ; and therefore the corpo- 
rate wealth of a municipality should be used on every appropriate occasion 
to make its public buildings models of architectural beauty as well as of 
utility. Utility, of course, should be the first consideration in every struc- 
ture, public or private, but when we remember that it costs little if any 
more to put materials together in an artistic than in an inartistic manner, 
we see the wisdom of doing it the better way. When a public library is 
nobly housed in a building which unconsciously, and as a part of the heri- 
tage of childhood, makes the children who frequent it familiar with the 
work of great builders and artisans, the library itself is more valuable and 
useful than it would be if meanly housed in an inferior building. And 
children can be taught better in beautiful and well-kept school-houses than 
in ugly and ill-constructed ones. 

Worcester has many artistic and impressive structures of a semi-public 
nature, but it never has done much in its corporate capacity to improve 
the architecture of the city until recently. The Classical high school was 
built in 187 1, and the English high school in 1892. These are substantial 
and good looking buildings, well adapted to school purposes, and are orna- 
ments to the city. vSeveral of the grammar schools are well planned and beau- 
tiful structures. The new Fire Department headquarters now in process 
of erection is a roomy and well-planned building, and is a great improve- 
ment over anything Worcester has had in this line in the past. The Public 
Library and the City Hospital are good buildings, well adapted to the pur- 
poses for which they were erected, and tasteful from an architectural stand- 
point. But the crowning glory of our municipal buildings is this grand 
and beautiful new City Hall, which for simplicity in design, combined with 
impressiveness in architectural effect, will bear comparison with the best 
handiwork of architects and builders anywhere. It is nobly planned and 
honestl}" constructed, and expresses the wealth, the dignity and the intelli- 
gence of this community. It stands four square, and the east front looks 
as well as the west front. It is the symbol of the growing development of 
our municipal life. While we are dedicating it to public uses, let us dedi- 
cate ourselves to the duties of good citizenship. May the noble science of 
government never degenerate here into the ignoble art of electioneering. 
May we realize that the true greatness of Worcester is not evidenced now 
and never will be evidenced by the number and length of its streets, its 
magnificent buildings, its extensive factories, or its great population, but 
it is found now, and ever will be foimd, if found at all, in the minds and 
hearts of the people. 

There are other phases of city government which have engaged the 
attention of our municipal authorities, and in which great progress has 
been made. 

In 1848 the expenses of the Poor Department were $4,300, about evenly 
divided between the Almshouse and the outdoor poor, with the average 
attendance of twenty-eight paupers in the Almshouse. The tramps were 



114 The Worcester of 1898. 

then officially registered as travelers and were entertained at the Alnish<:iuse. 
At the present time the average number of inmates of the Almshouse is 200, 
and the annual cost for providing for the poor is $35,000. Our pauper poor 
are well housed and fed, and there is no place in the United States, if, indeed, 
in the world, where the poor are better cared for than in Worcester. Out- 
door relief is often furnished to those in need of temporary assistance. A 
free dispensary of medicine is maintained, and the City Hospital is open to 
all. and free to the maimed and the afflicted in indigent circumstances. Our 
pulilic streets and squares are well illuminated at night, and in this respect 
we are far ahead of the ancient cities. Rome in its best days possessed 
excellent water and sewerage systems and good police and fire departments, 
but with all its brilliant civilization it had no system of public illumination. 
All business was transacted by daylight and all public entertainments took 
place in the daytime. At the close of day the people with good intentions 
retired to their homes for the night, while thieves, robbers and the evil- 
minded carried on their deviltry in the darkness or with lanterns and 
torches. 

In Worcester the darkness of night is expelled and the streets are made 
cheerful by 2,689 S^^ ^"d electric lights, which prolong day into night, 
lighten the labor and risk of our policemen, and make life more safe and 
enjoyable to us all. 

An efficient police force guards and protects our lives and property. In 
case of fire, vigilant and brave firemen come to our assistance, and use in 
our behalf water and fire-extinguishers at the city's expense. We are pro- 
tected from contagious and infectious disease by the rigid enforcement of 
good health laws. And in many other ways our lives and property are 
affected by contact with municipal government, and yet much is being said 
nowadays in favor of increasing the function of city government until all 
the natural monopolies are municipalized and carried on by the govern- 
ment. It is claimed that cities should own and manage all the works of a 
quasi-public nature like water supply, gas and electric light plants, street 
railways, the telephone, express, and fire insurance business. There are 
many strong reasons why the local government should control those works 
which of necessity must use the public ways in the performance of their 
functions; but before we can safely venture into this broad field of munic- 
ipal activity and life, we must see to it that there are such civil service 
rides and regulations as will place all city employees beyond the patronage 
of party politics. 

I have no sympathy, however, with the feeling that seems to prevail in 
some quarters that the people are incapable of self-government in their 
local affairs. Self-reliance and self-achievement strengthen human char- 
acter, and likewise self-government educates and upbuilds the citizenship 
of the people better than any other form of government. Our system of 
township government, as well as our systems of state and national govern- 
ments, are based upon the belief that the people are capable of managing 
their public affairs, and in fine this principle is an axiom of our political 
system. Home rule has been the pride and glory of New England ever 



The Worcester of 1898. 115 

since the Puritans formed the compact in the cabin of the ^lavflower, and 
this is the last place in the world where an attempt should be made to 
impair or violate the principle of local self-government. 

When De Tocqueville was here in 1833, he declared that no man could be 
found in all New England who would acknowledge that the State has any- 
right to interfere in the local interests of the towns, and for one I hope it 
will be a long time before we shall abandon the principle of home rule for 
our municipalities. But we must act with moderation and not take leaps in 
the dark. That government is best 

Where freedom broadens slowly down from precedent to precedent. 

And there is wisdom in the advice which the wise old Horace made a sage 
seaman give 2,000 years ago: 

Licinius, trust a seaman's lore; 

Steer not too boldly to the deep; 
Nor dreading storms, by treacherous shore 

Too closely creep. 

Time and your patience will not permit me to dwell longer on the growth 
of municipal functions in Worcester during the past fifty years. In that 
time great changes have taken place here and in the world at large. ^Ion- 
archies have fallen; republics have risen; new nations have been born and 
old nations rejuvenated ; ship canals have been opened to commerce; con- 
tinents have been crossed and recrossed by railroads ; steamships have 
supplanted sailing-vessels; electric street-cars have been installed in every 
city; sub-marine cables and electric wires have brought all nations into 
daily communication with each other; new inventions and discoveries have 
wrought more mechanical and economic changes in the industrial arts than 
ever before took place within the same period of time; and 3,000,000 slaves 
have been freed in our own country and the unity of the republic established 
on a firm foundation. And yet there are many still living with us who saw 
the birth of this city, and I see before me a large body of men who were 
voters here in 1848. They have not only witnessed these changes, but have 
been a part of the growth and life of Worcester ever since it became a city. 
They have been a blessing to this city and their fellow men, and heaven in 
return has blessed them with fullness of years. May their last days be their 
best days, and when they are through with earth, may they receive "the 
crown of life" which is promised to them who are faithful to the end. Our 
city has never been besieged and no great battles have ever taken place 
upon its soil, but yet its history is filled with stirring events and with heroic 
achievements. And to-day, is not every soul impressed with the sweet mem- 
ories and the hallowed associations that cluster around this sacred place? 
On this spot in the Old South Church a devout and patriotic people wor- 
shiped God after the manner of their fathers for 170 years. Here the lone 
messenger from Lexington announced the opening of the Revolutionary 
War and called the people to arms. Here the immortal Declaration of 
Independence was first read to the people of Worcester by Isaiah Thomas. 



ii6 The Worcester of 1898. 

Near bv the artiller)- thundered a welcome to General Washington upon his 
visit to the town after his inauguration as president of the United States, 
and liicewise to General Lafayette in 1834 when he passed through the city 
on his visit to the country he had helped to liberate a half century before. 
Within sight stands the modest monument which commemorates the 
services of the brave Timothy Bigelow in the Revolutionary struggle, 
and also the more imposing monument which records the names and 
heroic actions of the sons of Worcester who died in the service of the 
republic in the late Civil War, and which speaks in silent but impressive 
eloquence of the glory, the romance and the sacrifices of brave and patriotic 
warriors. Near by stands the old City Hall, which is soon to be abandoned 
and demolished. It is not a pretentious edifice, and makes no claim to 
architectural beauty, but it has been the governmental home of a free 
people for three-quarters of a century. Within its walls have been enacted 
the ordinances and decrees which have marked and guided the steps of our 
municipality since its erection. It has been the rostrum and the arena for 
great political debates and battles. It has witnessed the first meetings and 
conventions of earnest and true-hearted men, impressed with the wicked- 
ness of human slavery, and imbued with the belief that its extension into 
the territory of the United States would tarnish the fame and honor of the 
republic. It has resounded with the fervid and lofty eloquence of many of 
the great men of the nineteenth century. It has echoed with the strains of 
sweet music and the soul-stirring songs of Jenny Lind. It has listened to 
such noted representatives of literature, temperance and religion as Thack- 
eray, Higginson, Father Mathew, Theodore Parker and John B. Gough. 
It has heard the florid and passionate eloquence of Louis Kossuth, Rufus 
Choate and John A. Andrew. It has heard the masterly and persuasive 
oratory of Webster, Everett, Winthrop, Sumner, Wilson, Banks, Benton 
and Abraham Lincoln. It has heard Frederick Douglass, John Brown, 
Garrison, Phillips, Hale and the Fosters plead the cause of the slave. And 
it has often heard our local orators argue causes of interest to Worcester, 
and some of these, like Davis, Lincoln, Allen, Bullock, Devens and Hoar, are 
worthy of mention in connection with the great orators and statesmen of 
the world. 

As we bid it farewell, let us do so with reverence and respect, and with 
the feeling that it is going the way of all the earth. A great king who had 
been presented with a gold ring once asked the wisest of his counselors to 
cause to be engraved thereon the statement of the most obvious and univer- 
sal truth in nature. The counselor in a few days returned the ring to the 
king with this inscription on it: "This, too, shall pass away." So this 
magnificent and massive hall, the land whereon it stands, and we, too, shall 
j)ass away. 

"Alt is long and time is fleeting, 

And our hearts, though stout and brave, 
Still, like muffled drums, are' beating- 
Funeral marches to the grave." 



The Worcester of 1898. 117 

Nevertheless, if we are faithful and equal to our opportunities, we can 
leave footprints and influences of an ennobling nature that will help the 
onward march of mankind in after years, as we have been helped by the 
noble lives and good deeds of our ancestors, who handed down to us the 
blessed heritage of liberty and good government. God be praised for their 
unfaltering courage, their holy living, and their exalted characters. To-day 
I seem to see their venerated forms pass before us in a procession wherein 
march those whose hands grew callous with the hard work of the first settle- 
ment and their hearts brave in Indian warfare ; those who afterward toiled 
in field, office and shop, in building up the industries of this great city; 
those who in professional life promoted the cause of education, religion, 
medicine and jurisprudence; those who, endowed with fine instincts and 
tastes, advanced the art of music, painting, achitecture, invention, and 
science in all its forms; those who aided the progress of civilization by 
writing, by eloquence and by public service in the halls of legislation; those 
who sought liberty in union and the country's honor by service in warfare; 
and those who bore the children, rocked the cradles, and made homes pure 
and happy. This is a long procession of men and women who did what 
they could for Worcester and for the uplifting of humanity everywhere, and 
their brows are radiant with the stars of glory. I love to think of them as 
iinw living in the realms of paradise, where 

The great intelli.gences air 

That range above our mortal state, 

In circle round the blessed gate, 
Received and gave them a welcome there. 

As we think of all they did for us and the world, may their noble example 
inspire us with the firm determination to leave this city a cleaner and better 
place to live in than we found it, with better ordinances, better schools, 
better homes, better highways, better manners and customs, and better 
morals and religion. To strive for this consummation is surely our duty, 
and in such work we will find joy and "the peace that passeth under- 
tanding," and causes "death itself to be swallowed up in victor}-." 

Oh, beautiful my countrj-, be thine a nobler care 

Than all the wealth of commerce, thy harvest waving fair; 

Be it thy pride to lift up the manhood of the poor, 

Be thou to the oppressed fair freedom's open door; 

For thee our fathers suffered ; for thee they toiled and prayed ; 

Upon thy holy altar their willing lives they laid. 

Thou hast uo common birthright; grand memories on thee shine ; 

The blood of pilgrim nations, commingled, flows in thine; 

Oh, beautiful our country! round thee in love we draw, 

Thine is the grace of freedom, the majesty of law! 

Be righteousness thy sceptre, justice thy diadem , 

And on thy shining forehead be peace, the crowning gem. 



ii8 The Worcester of i8g8. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING. 

The building is built of pink tooled Milford granite, in the style of 
the early Italian Renaissance, which was selected by the architects as 
being the most in harmony with the spirit of modern times as it should 
find expression in a municipal structure. Noted authorities have been 
quoted freely in the endeavor to produce harmony. The building is 
2 1 9 feet long and 8 5 feet wide. From the grade line to the top of the 
cornice it is 65 feet in height, and the graceful Florentine tower rises 
205 feet above the street. The construction is fii-e-proof throughout, 
and the red tile hip-roof rests upon a framework of steel. 

There are sixty rooms in the building used for the thirty-five offices 
for the various departments, etc. The interior finish of the offices is in 
quartered oak with furniture to match, with the exception of the 
mayor's apartments, which are finished in mahogany. The floors of 
the corridors are paved in mosaic. The floor space of the aldermanic 
chamber is 30 x 40 feet and the council 50 x 24. Both have galleries. 

Among the firms who have contributed to the furnishing and equip- 
ment of the building are the following: Counters, tables, wardrobes, 
cupboards, and special order desks. Grand Rapids School Furniture 
Company, Grand Rapids, Mich.; working desks (flat and roll-top), 
Derby De.sk Company; interior vault work, St. Louis Art Metal Com- 
pany, and Office Specialty Company, Rochester, N. Y. ; exterior vault 
work, doors, Morse Safe Company; chairs, Shattuck & Morgan Chair 
Company, Bedford, Ohio; A'ienna chairs, imported; mayor's furniture 
and council and aldermanic chairs, Clift'ord & Johnson; carpets, equally 
divided, W. J. Hogg and M. J. Whittall; curtains and fixtures, E. G. 
Higgins & Co. and P. Marr; electric and gas fixtures, Mitchell Vance 
Company, New York; heating and ventilating, gas piping, Washburn 
& Garfield ; plumbing, I. N. Tucker ; electric work, Plummer, Ham & 
Richardson; granolithic sidewalks, G. W. Carr, Worcester; drawing 
tables, Morse Machine Company, Rochester, N. Y. ; umbrella stands 
and cabinets for laboratories, Henry Brannon; clocks, Howard Com- 
pany, Boston; lettering on offices, Stenberg & Company; elevators, 
Elektron Elevator Company, vSpringfield. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 



|lIE act incorporating Worcester as a city was signed by Governor 
George N. Briggs on the 2gth day of February, 1848. This 
specific date not appearing" in tlie calendar of i8g8, and the time of 
year not being suitable to an adequate observance of the municipal 
anniversary, the semi-centennial celebration was postponed to a more 
auspicious season, and June 20th, 21st and 22d were appointed, the 
two first days to be given to a regatta on Lake Quinsigamond, under 
the management of the Quinsigamond International Association, to be 
followed on the 22d by a grand civic and trades procession in the fore- 
noon, and musical exercises and historical addresses on the Common 
in the afternoon. The procession on the morning of the 2 2d was fully 
carried out, but a sudden change in the weather at noon compelled an 
adjournment of the other exercises, which were held in Mechanics Hall 
on the evening of Friday, June 24. 

A feature of the semi-centennial celebration was the regatta at Lake 
Quinsigamond, under the auspices of the Quinsigamond International 
Regatta Association. The original intention had been to devote two 
davs to this, but later it was decided to have all of the races the same 
day, June 21. 

Perfect weather favored both contestants and spectators, the water 
conditions were all that could be desired, and excellent management 
marked the programme throughout. 

The races were begun in the forenoon ; excepting an intermission at 
noon, they were continued until evening, and those of the afternoon 
■were witnessed by upwards of 5,000 people. They consisted of canoe 
and shell racing, singles, doubles, fours and eights, and some most 
spirited and interesting contests resulted. Old boating men say that 
the final race, in which the Worcester High School eight defeated 
the famous Weld (Harvard) crew and made a new lake record, was 
the most stubbornly fought and most exciting contest they had ever 
witnessed. 

It was a successfully conducted regatta, and at its close ]\Ia}-or 
Dodge presented valuable trophies to the winners at the rooms of the 
Wachusett Boat Club. 



120 The Worckster of 1898. 

The grand civic and trades procession on the morning of Wednes- 
da}^ June 22, under the efficient direction of Major E. T. Raymond, 
chief marshal, assisted by Captain Levi Lincoln, chief of staff, was a 
great success. It was participated in by the Grand Army and other 
military organizations, the pupils of the public schools, many secret 
and other societies, trades unions, and a fair representation of the 
business interests of Worcester. 

flavor Dodge reviewed the line as it passed on the return from the 
south end from a stand erected close up to the sidewalk at the front of 
the City Hall. Occupying seats on the platform were members of the 
City (lovernment, city officials and invited guests. The stand was 
brightly decorated with bunting. Directly over the mavor's partv a 
crimson heart, the seal of the city, rested between a glory of American 
flags. 

As the head of the line reached the stand in returning. Mayor Dodge 
rose in company with Chief Drennan, and greeted each salute in the 
entire line, standing uncovered most of the time. Chief Marshal Ray- 
mond reviewed the line at the intersection of Front and Main streets, 
the marshal and aids of each division dropping out to review their 
respective commands. 

From Lincoln square to Claremont street the line of march was a 
blaze of color. Flags of every size and quality fluttered in the gentle 
breeze, and the picturesque flag of Cuba was frequently found alongside 
its protector, the glorious old stars and stripes. 

The pupils of the schools in the south end of the city were given an 
excellent opportunity to view the parade through the kindness of Con- 
gressman Joseph H. AValker. The large lawn fronting his house at the 
corner of Main and Ripley streets was given over entirely to the school 
children from Woodland, Freeland, Downing, Canterbury, Cambridge 
streets and other schools. The children were under the care of their 
teachers, and none enjoyed the parade more than thev. 

EXERCISES IN MECHANICS HALL. 

Friday Evening, June 24TH. 

The hour set for the exercises was 8 o'clock, but half an hour Ijcforc 
that time the Worcester Brass Band took up its place on the floor 
of the hall at the front of the platform, from which position it 
gave a delightful concert during the arrival of the audience, which 
included several of the old voters of 1848, leading citizens in all walks 
of life, and city officials. A few minutes before 8 the pupils of the high 
schools, who were to sing, took their places on the platform, and they 
made a pretty background for the dark-clothed speakei^s of the evening 



The Worcester of 189S. 121 

and the party that; accompanied them, the young ladies of the chorus 
being gowned in summer dresses of bright and varied colors. 

It was a few minutes after 8 when Mayor Rufus B. Dodge, jr., 
ascended the platform, his appearance being the signal for a heart}- 
burst of applause, which continued while the following were taking their 
seats: Right Reverend jNIonsignor Thomas Griffin, D. D., Frank P. 
Goulding, Esc^., Colonel William S. B. Hopkins, ex-Mayor Edward L. 
Davis, ex-Mayor Henry A. Marsh, ex-Mayor A. B. R. Sprague, Pres- 
ident Burton W. Potter of the Board of Aldermen, and President Frank 
B. Hall of the Common Council. 

The exercises opened with "The .Stars and Stripes Forever," plaj-ed 
by the band, and then Mayor Dodge introduced the Right Reverend 
Monsignor Thomas Griffin, who offered the following prayer with much 
fervor and earnestness : 

O almighty and eternal God 1 Creator and Lord of heaven and earth I 
one only Ciod in three divine persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, we 
profoundly adore Thee, and reverently approach Thy throne to offer our 
homages of love and gratitude. We thank Thee for the manifold blessings 
which Thou hast bestowed upon us in the half century of our municipal life, 
for the material prosperity wherewith Thou hast enriched us; for the indus- 
trial development which sets our city high in state and nation, and wafts its 
name in honor to far-off lands. We thank Thee for the superior educational 
advantages which the people possess and enjoy, for the large benevolence 
and expansive charities which proclaim a common brotherhood in Jesus 
Christ, by whom we are taught to address Thee under the endearing 
name of Father. 

O Lord God, by whom all things are rightly ordered, we thank Thee that 
Thou didst direct the footsteps of the pioneer settlers to this chosen spot, 
and didst imbue them with courage, thrift and unfaltering hope and trust 
in Thee. And now, O merciful and loving Father, from Thy holy heaven 
graciously look upon us. Be attentive to our prayer; may Thy blessing be 
upon this peo[)le and all dwellers within these walls from generation to gen- 
eration. 

O God, from wliom proceed all holy desires, righteous counsels and just 
works, inspire our representatives in council assembled with the spirit of 
righteousness, of honor and of justice. Endow the chief executive with 
heavenly wisdom to know the things that are well pleasing in Thy sight, 
and enable him to perform them with all his strength. 

Lord God of hosts, mighty and strong in battle, kindle and cherish in our 
hearts a patriotic ardor that, ne.xt to our love for Thee, may be placed our 
love of country. INlake our flag for evermore the symbol of freedom, of 
justice and of clemency. Inscribe on its folds the heavenly message, "Peace 
and good will." Flash it out in Th)' blessed light to the nations of the earth, 
and so make us partakers in the mission of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. 

The light of Thy countenance, () Lord I is signed upon us; Thou hast 
given gladness in our hearts; Thou hast crowned us as with a shield of Thy 




FRANK P. GOULDING. 



The Worcester of 1898. 123 

good will. Our exultant, grateful hearts in swelling accents proclaim Thy 
praise. Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth; ye mountains, give 
praise with jubilation. Praise, honor, glory, power and benediction be 
Thine, O adorable Trinity, Father, vSon and Holy Ghost, forever and ever. 
Amen ! 



MR. GOULDING'S ADDRESS. 

ilan is a creature of memory and prophecy. And although, in looking 
before, his hopes generally outrun the tardy pace of reason, yet he is always 
anxious to find in experience some solid ground to justify his brightest 
expectations for the future. 

Hence our joy and exultation over the achievements of our ancestors arise 
not alone from the fruits we are enjoying, but also from the assurance they 
afford that we, too, may tread the lofty path and win a splendid renown. 
Our most familiar psalm of life places the value of great men's lives in the 
circumstance that they remind us how sublime we can make our own lives. 

We pause to-day on the midway summit of the city's first century to look 
back for a moment over the path we have trod, to count our gains, to read 
a lesson, to gather an inspiration. We would profit by experience, and find 
a chart to guide our future course by penetrating the deeper meaning of the 
recorded time now closed forever. If there are principles and forces under- 
lying and controlling the destinies of men, we would find them out, as far as 
possible, and learning how far our fathers recognized those principles and 
were faithful to them, read the true import of all their successes and their 
failures. Our eulogies will have a significance in proportion to our under- 
standing of the spirit in which the founders of our local institutions wrought. 

On such an occasion, and to the end indicated, of course, no theme could 
be so appropriate as a complete and faithful narrative of the life of the 
fathers who stood at the turning-point of our history, when the moderately 
sized town of 1830 to 1835, influenced both by circumstances and by men, 
set its face towards the rising sun, and began the remarkable progression 
which has placed it among the great cities of the land. 

But such a narrative of a people's life is not to be lightly attempted by 
the unskillful. The story-teller who would essay the tale of a people's life 
for such an occasion must be an artist in his craft. His mind must not only 
be stored in rich abundance with all the wealth of incident and fact, but he 
must also possess the historic imagination, the insight to discern, and the 
faculty to portray character and to discover the less apparent causes and 
impulses that determine the emotions of men. 

Happily, nothing in this occasion makes any imperative demand upon me 
to attempt such an impossible task. Neither the time at my command 
in preparation or delivery, nor any personal qualification would permit 
entrance upon that groiuid. 

The celebration of the 200th anniversary of the town's incorporation 
called into requisition the famous talents of your great citizen, whose fine 



124 The Worcester of 1898. 

eliKiuence traced with sufficient detail the steps of our progression as a 
community, and assigned with clear judgment and unerring- insinht the 
principal causes which have produced the marvelous results that now so 
powerfully stir our patriotic enthusiasm and pride. And the recent dedica- 
tion ot yoin- new City Hall has furnished the occasion for adequate and 
ample review of the principal municiiJal events that have marked the 
progress of your city. 

A far less ambitious attempt on my part will satisfy all demands this day 
makes i)n me. 

I would direct attention to two or three of the leading characteristics of 
the generation of men who constituted the founders of modern Worcester, 
and trace in briefest outline what seems to me the connection between those 
characteristics and the results wrought out in the material greatness and 
primacy of Worcester, and what may be called the moral attributes of the 
community, in the transferred and secondary sense in which the term is 
applicable to a community or a race. 

We cannot draw too sharp a line in assiijning the beginning of the citys' 
life. The statute of 1S48, chapter 32, no more marked the city's birth than 
did the revision of 1S66 or that of 1893. Each act changed the form of 
government, and the first most radically. But it was a mere record of an 
accomplished event. The city, in its life and spirit existed before, as well 
as after, the act of the Legislature. The transformation which was to be, 
within the lifetime of men then and now living, so striking and wonderful, 
began in the 30's, and in 1848 was in progress with constantly accelerating 
speed. 

The causes of the marked change which came over the spirit and form of 
Worcester in the early 30's, marking its destiny as the centre of great and 
varied industrial enterprises, have been frequently exploited, and are too 
familiar to require more than a passing notice. The Blackstone canal 
belonged to a dying type of public highways. It perished almost before 
it began to live, and was superseded by instrumentalities so swift and power- 
ful that we realize with difficulty how its antiquated and sluggish methods, 
its leaden-paced and cumbrous vehicles could have been the occasion of 
awakening a new life in this community. But the creeping boats which 
bore the materials and the products of trade and industry between the 
sheltered inland and the boundless deep were to our fathers like winged 
messengers of promise and harbingers of coming greatness to Worcester. 
The quick-witted and much scheming denizens here saw in the slow but easy 
moving craft the opening possibilities of their locality. They were trans- 
ported beyond the ignorant present and felt the future in the instant. The 
founders of modern Worcester were the generation on the stage of action 
twenty years before the first charter was passed, and we are to look at the 
nu-n who directed affairs from 1830 to i860, for the agents who molded this 
city into the permanent form it took, and made possible its present rank 
and standing. 

Like all men who have achieved something great and noble and perma- 
nent, these men are extremely interesting characters. Biographical notices 



The Worcester of 189S. 125 

and anecdotes uf them always disclose something individual, racy and 
peculiar. They are like the Homeric characters, distinct, clear-cut in 
outline and detail, with no blurring of the image presented to the eye, 
exactly focussed and differentiated. 

There were, of course, in old Worcester a few men of more than local 
celebrity, men whose intellectual pre-eminence, eloquence and general 
ability had attracted wide attention, and whose services in high and 
responsible positions have been long and honorable. 

But these were not the men, I think, who gave the key-note to the new 
life of the town. 

The honor of founding Worcester anew must be accorded to tlie mechanics 
and artisans, the manufacturers and business men of that generation, for 
thev embodied each of them the description implied in all those terms. 
And, I think, the first quality that attracts attention as we try to repro- 
duce in our study of imagination their form and pressure, is their practical 
business sense and sagacity. First of all, they knew how to accomplish a 
concrete result by conformable concrete means. 

The ringing challenge of common-sense met every proposition and every 
scheme of policy, and unless it could give the countersign and justify itself 
to the apprehension of hard-headed, unsentimental brains, no project was 
likely to get any permanent footing. 

It goes without saying that this practical business sense took into constant 
account the z'is incrtice of things, and recognized the indispensable requisites 
of industrious habits and strict economy which were conspicuous virtues 
then and afterwards of the founders. Their ideals and their conduct were 
conformable to the midtiplication table and other plain laws, as Carlyle says. 

Another part of this practical sense was a shrewd Yankee secretiveness 
even to the point of scant sociability, as to their own affairs. 

When Lincoln attempted in 1832 to make a compilation of the industrial 
enterprises of Worcester, he found himself obstructed by the jealous secrecy 
with which the various proprietors guarded the inside facts of their busi- 
ness, and was obliged to abandon the project in despair. We smile when 
we read, over the signatures of men since famous as the' founders of 
giant industries, plaintive notes deprecatory of too inquisitive examination 
of their little plants, as if they feared they were too feeble to stand 
competition. 

This practical competency and genius for "getting there," to use a slang 
phrase, was also a general characteristic of the earlier and later settlers 
of New England. The Pilgrim fathers themselves, with all their exalted 
purposes to brave all dangers and dare and endure death itself in the desert 
to gain the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their 
own consciences, possessed in no small measure the practical and business 
faculty, which is in its last analysis the capacity to look at facts as they 
are, and not as one might wish or hope or dream they might be. 

Senator Hoar, in the address before referred to, has show-n by ample 
instances that this region was the home of the inventor. I have sought to 
lay some emphasis on a trait of character which distinguished the leaders 



126 The Worcester of 1898. 

of these cunning contrivers of useful inventions and which is often sup- 
posed to be lacking to some extent in the inventor. 

Another characteristic of the founders was their hospitality to new 
ideas. 

Worcester has always been a liberal city. Persecution for opinion's sake, 
whether by pains and penalties of the law. or by social ostracism or boy- 
cotting, or other uncivilized means and methods, has had little place here. 
And this quality and disposition has been a guaranty of enlightened prog- 
ress here, as it always was and always will be a guaranty of light and 
progress wherever it prevails. It is of far less consequence what ideas a 
community starts with than that it should be free and open-minded to hear 
new ones. Not that all new ideas are necessarily right. The point is that 
they are not necessarily wrong because new. And honest opinions are 
entitled to a hearing once at least. 

The degeneracy of Spain is not due to her views on religion or politics. 
It is due to the fact that for centuries she closed the door to all new opinions 
of any kind and extinguished all initiative in the flames of the inquisition. 
The repression by violent or oppressive measures even of manifest error, 
is fatal to all progress, as it extinguishes at length the very spirit of free 
inquiry. 

Mr. Fiske says of the Spanish inquisition that "it was a machine for win- 
nowing out and destroying all such individuals as surpassed the average in 
quickness of wit, earnestness of purpose and strength of character, in so 
far as to entertain opinions of their own and boldly declare them. The 
more closely people approached an elevated standard of intelligence and 
moral courage, the more likely was the machine to reach them. It worked 
with deadly efficiency, cutting off the brightest and boldest in their 
prime, while the duller and weaker spirits were spared to propagate the 
race." 

And there is an intolerance which falls far short of the grim savagery of 
the holy office, but which may be very potent to restrain and compress into 
a dull conformity the opinions of men, and to stamp out alertness and 
progressiveness of mind. But here that kind of spirit was ever conspicuous 
by its absence. The diversity and variety of our industrial pursuits have 
had their counterpart in the variety and contrariety of opinion, which have 
consented to abide together in mutual respect, and, differing however 
greatly in many things, yet welded together and harmonized by a common 
love of city, state and nation. 

Among the earliest to be affected by the schism which rent in twain the 
Calvinistic orthodoxy of the last century, Worcester felt no alarm when 
the most ancient of the Christian churches, under the benignant leading 
of Father Fitton, took the first steps in that unbroken progress which has 
marked its local history. And I think I shall command the unanimous 
assent of all the members of that communion when I say that whatever 
may be true as to some few individuals, or as to some extremely limited 
periods of time, no permanent policy of the city has ever shut them out 
from equal privileges and honors on account of their faith. 



The Worcester of 1898. 127 

It was this spirit of tolerance, this liospitable fairness of mind, which 
welcomes reasonable discussion of all new ideas, as much as the central 
and accessible position of the city, that early made it the scene of the 
anti-slavery agitation or even the birthplace of that movement. It is not 
to be supposed that Worcester opinion was unanimous on that subject. 
The contrary is true. The conservative and even reactionary view was 
strongly held until the logic of the great war had converted everybody to 
abolitionism. 

Along with their practical hard-headed business sense and their liberality 
in matters of opinion, these founders of the new and modern Worcester had 
sufficient ideality on the one hand and conservatism on the other to appre- 
ciate the indispensable importance of education. 

Welcoming with perfect openness of mind all new knowledge and wisdom, 
they proposed that their children should be adequately instructed in the 
knowledge and wisdom of the past. And their clear conception of the 
practical necessity of suitable tools, appliances and means in order to attain 
any worthy end, mechanical or other, inspired them with the determina- 
tion that whatever was needed to furnish their children's minds with all 
recorded knowledge, and train their powers to the highest point of efficiency, 
God willing, should not lack. Hence the number and excellence of the 
educational foundations of the city. The educators, the school-masters and 
school-mistresses of Worcester have always constituted a most important 
part of her civic life, and, I need not say, have maintained an honorable 
rank among their craft throughout the land. 

The scores of elegant and commodious public school-houses with their 
hundreds of cheerful school-rooms filled and even overflowing with tens of 
thousands of children, under the best of instruction, the vast and increasing 
annual outlay uncomplainingly borne by the taxpayers, sufficiently attest 
the present devotion of the city to the cause of public education, and the 
present condition is but the natural growth from the seed sown by the 
fathers. And time would fail me if I undertook even to glance at the 
glittering circle of great institutions of learning which crown the lovely 
hills around; the jeweled girdle of our fair young city, richer, rarer and 
more precious than all the fabled wealth the gorgeous east could bestow. 
Our noble Public Library, now intelligently administered so as to be an 
integral part of our public educational system, as it is ancillary also to all 
private pursuit of knowledge, is another institution endowed and fostered 
by the munificence of one of the founders in the very spirit of his com- 
patriots, and is, in its history and development, a striking illustration of 
this devotion to sound learning and useful knowledge which I select as one 
of the leading traits of the fathers. 

This beautiful hall, into which the caprices of the summer weather have 
shifted these exercises, is an illustration, a type and epitome of my theme, 
and embodies in its springing arches, its firm supporting pilasters, its 
ample and useful spaces, and in all the e.xquisite grace and harmony of its 
architectural lines, a suitable expression of the qualities I am ascribing to 
the founders. It is in itself an enduring monument to the courage, per- 



128 The Worcester of 1898. 

severance and genius of the mechanics, artisans and business men of 
Worcester; and it has been a temple sacredly dedicated to free inquiry, 
free opinion and free speech, an academic retreat where the great teachers, 
lecturers, orators and artists of the world have imparted to all the people 
the best culture and learning of the age. 

Practical business sagacity, the ability to manage affairs, to subdue the 
hard conditions which beset the struggle for existence, and to endow human 
life with a convenient plenty, open-minded liberality, hospitable to all new 
ideas which could gain a foothold by fair reasoning, devotion to useful 
learning, — these were among the leading traits; these were the motives, 
the property and spirit which characterized the founders and promoters of 
our city. 

Their motto might well be that which ;\Iacaulay describes as the key of 
the Baconian philosophy, "utility and progress." 

The results of their work, the fruition of their spirit, lie before you, 
written in letters of living light, as a part of the history of the country. 

These men "wrought in a sad sincerity," and it may well seem that the 
very insensate elements from which they forged their designs consciously 
grew into the form the city has taken. 

When Themistocles, the great Athenian commander, was asked at a feast 
to touch the lute, he drew himself up and haughtily replied that he could 
not fiddle, but yet he could make a small town a great city. 

In all probability Themistocles had but a very imperfect appreciation or 
rather no appreciation at all of the real greatness which was in store for 
the city he had saved in battle. The greatness of Athens, which alone 
he could understand, referred to the number of hoplites and light-armed 
troops she could set in the field, the number and strength of the triremes 
she could man, the strength of her walls, the number of her allies and 
tributary subjects, her financial resources, her commercial and maritime 
importance, and her general authority and influence among the states of 
Greece. But how transitory was all that! How puny and trifling seem 
all the military prowess and maritime greatness of Athens, in view of the 
swift and overwhelming disasters which swept over her, even while those 
who could remember the person of Themistocles were still alive! 

But there was a greatness of Athens totally concealed from the appre- 
hension of Themistocles, but which can never perish from the memory of 
men. The glories of the Periclean age, the literature and the art of Athens, 
the names of Herodotus, Thucydides, ^schylus, Sophocles, Euripides, 
Plato, Demosthenes of Phidias and Praxiteles are the heritage of the world. 
They and their works, even in the incomplete and fragmentary condition 
in which they have emerged from the desolation of many centuries, pre- 
serve forever the name and history of the small town which Themistocles 
thought he had made a great city. 

Our fathers did not aim to establish a great city possessing primacy, 
dominion and masterdom. They knew how to make a small town become 
a great city, but the means they wrought with and the results they sought 
were the means and results of peace, the agencies of faithful industry. 



The Worcester of 1898. 129 

practical sense, ecjuality <if right in matters of opinion and conduct, and 
the impartial diffusion among all the people of the blessings of learning 
and the priceless boon of liberty. 

But are the results accomplished by these our local heroes wholly 
unworthy to be considered in comparison with those directly traceable 
to the victory of Themistocles over the hosts of Xerxes? The city our 
founders have made out of a small town probably contains a larger popu- 
lation than Athens in her highest estate, certainly a larger free population. 

In all the useful arts and sciences, in physical power, in material wealth, 
in everything that goes to make the external life of man comfortable, safe 
and agreeable, we are twenty-four centuries in advance of that famous city. 
Who does not believe we are at least as far as that in advance on the scale 
of humanity and morality? Our relative significance and historic fame are 
as nothing compared with the mother of arts and eloquence. But that is 
because the whole civilized world has moved forward and upward. We are 
but members of a mighty empire based on human liberty. We are a unit 
in a vast group of like communities, each presenting so many precisely 
similar features that any attempt to discover and dwell on the points 
of difference would press out local patriotism beyond the bonds of 
reason. 

But I am not aware that the blessings which a noble and devoted ancestry 
have left as a rich heritage for us here, are any less worthy of our recogni- 
tion and gratitude becavise a hundred or a thousand other commimities of 
our brethren of the same race and nation have a like tale to tell. 

No; viewed in relation to all the other cities of our reunited and happy 
land, we are but a microcosm and a type. Our history is but a repetition, 
a variety of the same species of a history common to all. But it would seem 
to be the part of reason to try to realize the extent of our advantages and 
opportunities, and blessings not less, but more because they are shared in 
some large measure throughout the land. 

The half century which now closes on the city's life has been packed with 
great events. The drama that has unrolled its scenes before your eyes has 
never been surpassed in human interest in all the history of the world. 
You have not only beheld the marvelous expansion of your own munici- 
pality to dimensions tenfold greater than at the beginning in population 
and wealth, but you have also seen your whole country advancing with 
giant strides and spreading its dominion over and occupying with its teem- 
ing millions of happy people vast areas which were then desert wastes and 
inhabited only by wild beasts and roving and barbarous tribes. 

You have seen thousands upon thousands of miles of railroad bind with a 
network of rapid intercommunication all sections of the Union. Almost 
within that period you have seen the invention of the electric telegraph, and 
altogether the boundless application of that wonderful agent to all the 
astonishing uses by which it now ameliorates the condition of mankind. 

You have seen the political fabric of your country trembling on the verge 
of dissolution under the stress of a great Civil War, and passing through 
that storm, becoming strengthened, consolidated, and welded anew into a 




WILLIAM S. B. HOPKINS. 



The Worcester of 1898. 131 

government far more authoritative than ever before, without the slightest 
tendency to oppress even the humblest citizen. 

And in all the relations of war and peace, you have seen the sons of 
Worcester, true to the traditions of their ancestors, displaying a spirit of 
patriotism and civic virtue beyond all praise. 

You have seen the youth of this city, from every calling and walk in life, 
summoned with sudden alarm from the depths of profound peace by the 
trumpet call of battle, spring to arms with a perfect valor and constancy 
never surpassed in the annals of mankind nor in the tales of the mythical 
heroes of the epic muse. And all that martial virtue j'ou have seen 
matched by the patient heroism of mothers, wives, sisters and lovers, who 
have known how to carry the burden of a broken life, sustained and soothed 
in their lonely pilgrimage by the proud consciousness of their kinship with 
heroic souls. And recent events have shown that all these virtues still e.xist 
unimpaired in the present generation. 

In every point of view the past and the present justify our brightest 
hopes for the future, and great and fortunate will be the destiny of our 
successors if the hundredth anniversary of the city's corporate life shall dawn 
as auspiciously as this we now celebrate. 



COLONEL HOPKINS' ADDRESS. 

Order is the antithesis of chaos, harmony of contention, reason of passion, 
and, in a sense, law is the antithesis of license. The story of the creation, 
whether true as written in the Bible, or as written in the rocks, discloses the 
necessity of adjustment among material bodies before a universe can hang 
together without discord and crash, and thus only is possible the harmony 
of the spheres. In life the same rule prevails, for the millions of divergent 
and selfish interests, becoming discordant, would disintegrate into confusion 
and ruin if not constrained by controlling regulation. Thus in human 
affairs there must be artificial regulation — artificial because human — to 
attain an orderly status of living on this globe. The same law of order 
which prevents the stars from crashing together, more or less perfectly 
prevents the interests of men from collision. The first is absolute law 
because the law of material nature ; the latter only so absolute as the 
imperfect nature of man can develop, establish and enforce. This is 
government. 

If these conclusions are true, certain premises on which they rest, being 
further analyzed, will disclose evils in human nature, the methods of 
avoiding which or of redeeming from which become functions of human 
government. We may fairly assume that the faults with which, to effect 
order among men, government must deal, lie in the constitution of the 
individual. We will not stop to discuss the long-mooted question of innate 
depravity, as theologians have treated it. The evident results, with no 
inquiry into causes, are enough to appall us. Selfishness, for example, lies 
at the bottom of every crime. It is not a mere wanton desire to do another 



132 The Worcester of 1898. 

wrong or injury, but the desire to give oneself gratification and benefit that 
leads one to cut loose from the rules which others observe, and to violate 
others' rights. Selfishness, jealousy, lustful and greedy desire — these are 
the traits the entire eradication of which would effect a millennium, the 
bridling of which is the function of government. They may be constituents 
in producing wider and greater crimes that ordinarily follow from them, 
but ultimately they are traits of the individual man. A mob may be worse 
in the scale of offenses than an assault, but a mob is only a lawless crowd, 
which would not exist were it not for the lawless men who compose it, and 
it is lawless only because they are lawless. 

Thus we see that the nearer we get to ourselves, the nearer we stand to 
those conditions which make laws necessary. The common weal demands 
the protection of persons, of property, of health, of morals, and this protec- 
tion is attempted by codes of police regulation and criminal statutes which 
must be uniform and which admit of no elasticity. But in our environment 
there are a thousand and one problems to be solved every hour in the day 
that touch individual purposes, plans, hopes and interests in their relation 
to our neighbors and to special communities which do admit of latitude and 
of varying determination. These questions touch personal relations and 
the affairs of home most intimately, and they are nearer to individual man 
than any other regulations. 

Such affairs are not to be determined by some general and inflexible rule, 
but the adjustment of them is effected only by conference, in which personal 
assertion and personal yielding result in something in the nature of an 
agreement. It may be an agreement made by a majority, to be sure, but 
the acquiescence of the minority after full hearing, so to speak, makes, for 
the time, at least, a concordant result. 

Such problems, because they are home questions, must ordinarily be 
determined singly and by those most intimately affected by them, and thus 
they involve most nearly the very individual traits which at bottom have 
made the restraint of government essential to happiness, and their settle- 
ment is often at once the most important and the most difficult part of 
government. This is local self-government. 

It is conceded by the publicists, statesmen and scholars that the most 
perfect form or method of treating these home questions is found in the 
pure democracy of the town meeting, which was never more perfected than 
in the towns of New England. 

Our own Jefferson declared, "These wards, called townships in New 
England, are the vital principle of government, and have proved them- 
selves the wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect 
exercise of self-government and for its preservation." 

The French De Tocqueville found that "the public spirit of the local 
communities is less awakened and less influential" where "the population 
exercises a less immediate influence on affairs." 

The distinguished English observer, Professor Brice, expresses admirably 
the high importance of local self-government in the affairs of mankind. 
The towns, he says, "are to this day the true unity of political life in New 



The Worcester of 1898. 133 

England, the solid foundation of that well compacted structure of self- 
government which European philosophers have admired and the new states 

of the West have sought to reproduce." "Self-government 

stimulates the interest of people in affairs of their neighborhood, sustains 
local political life, educates the citizen in his daily round of civic duty, 
teaches him that perpetual vigilance and the sacrifice of his own time and 
labor are the price that must be paid for individual liberty and collective 
prosperity." " Self-government secures the good administra- 
tion of local affairs by giving the inhabitants of each locality due means of 
overseeing the conduct of their business." 

The same idea is carefully expressed by a judicious American writer bear- 
ing the sturdy Scotch name, Douglas Campbell. He puts it, "As we have 
already noticed, the feature of it all that strikes an Englishman most forci- 
bly is the separation of local and national affairs in the administration of 
the state and the general government. But the township system with its 
more diverse local self-government is of greater importance. Given that, 
and the rest of the system follows almost as a matter of course. Every 
American is a politician, and feels a keen interest in his presidential and 
State elections, but after all, these are generally of much less political impor- 
tance to him than the home elections, which determine whether his local 
affairs shall be wisely, economically and justly administered. General taxa- 
tion is a trifle compared with that for his schools, roads, bridges and other 
local expenses. It is in the town meeting that the incipient statesman is 
formed. " 

Those persons present who can remember with distinctness the time 
when the recently removed brick structure on this Common witnessed the 
deliberations of the town of Worcester under the rural conditions of self- 
government just described, are not large in number. Nearly every one, 
however, can recall somewhere and at some time in life the scene presented 
by a town meeting. What stately decorum marked the installation of a 
"moderator," as the law makes us call him; that elective ruler of the day 
who under the statutes is to "regulate the business and proceedings of the 
meeting, decide all questions of order and make public declaration of all 
votes passed"; without whose leave "no person shall speak in a town meet- 
ing," and at whose request "all persons shall" be silent: who may, after 
notice, order "a person who behaves in a disorderly manner" to withdraw 
from the meeting, and may invoke the aid of the constable to eject the 
contemptuous and "confine him in some convenient place until the meeting 
is adjourned." Under the guardian supervision and rule of that citizen, in 
whom his townsmen had thus expressed the greatest confidence for wisdom, 
caution, common sense, fairness and moderation, discussion proceeded on 
the needs of their daily life, and determination resulted which in the vast 
majority of cases was the safest and best. It was a kind of political house- 
keeping, upon the orderly conduct of which, as in family organization, the 
happiness of the home depended. 

The great trouble with this admirable system of local self-government is 
that in a community where prosperity reigns, it is necessarily short-lived. 



134 The Worcester of 1898. 

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it has its limit of practical 
operation, which is reached in point of time all the sooner where the pros- 
perity is the greater. Yet so great was the trust of the people of Xew 
England in the township system that they clung to it as long as it was 
possible, dreading the change to the organization of cities as one fraught 
with danger to the good management of home affairs, though rendered 
necessary by increase of population, accumulation of wealth, and the 
expansion of business interests. 

Thus we find that the town of Boston was allowed to reach a population 
of 45,000 before it accepted a city charter, and in this second city of the 
Commonwealth the population had reached nearly 18,000 when, fifty years 
ago, it took upon itself that municipal government under which it has 
since been developed to the stature of the present day. 

The celebration of the transition from town to civic government, there- 
fore, is in some sense the celebration of an undesirable event in the life of 
the municipality. The pride in past success, and in the promise of greater 
achievement still, is shadowed a little by the recognition of the departure 
from the day of simple security and the embarking on stormy seas. After 
all, this is no more than the repetition of the history of every man when 
he comes to maturity and steps forth bravely to meet the seductions of the 
active world, carrying along with him, as inspirations and defences, a well 
ordered youth and a mother's prayers and hopes. He assumes the respon- 
sibilities of his future amid environments which are beyond his control. 

What the dangers are that confront a newly organized city, drawing 
sharply the lines of contrast between its earlier condition as a town and its 
features as a city, are too evident to need much enumeration. Neverthe- 
less, I trust you will pardon me a few suggestions. In the first place it is a 
corporation with methods and limits definitely prescribed by the statute 
which gives it birth, and the powers of the corporate body are no longer 
directly exercised by the people who compose it, but by a small representa- 
tive assembly, which, as experience shows, is more easily controlled in the 
interest of selfish or unworthy schemes than could the popular assembly 
whose place it has taken, have been affected. 

Here, then, enters the danger of easy corruption — a danger which has 
much too often ripened to fruition. It may happen that home affairs are 
no longer treated as home affairs, but as political opportunities, that instead 
of cultivating neighborly harmony, neighborly strife is fomented for the 
real purpose of breeding political contest. 

Another danger which arises is too great ambition. It is perfectly 
natural that when the town of yesterday becomes the city of to-day, it 
looks upon the change in its importance as greater than it really is. A 
new city is an over-grown town. It is likely to put on airs without recog- 
nizing its own awkwardness, as does the growing boy when he graduates 
from breeches into long trousers. There is a period in this adolescence of 
cities when the necessity of large and even strained expenditures cannot 
be avoided, so that all the more over-ambition is a source of great danger. 
Generally speaking, the fact must also be recognized that in every way the 



The Worcester of 1898. 135 

horizon widens. Growth and enterprise enlarge the ideas of the citizen, 
increase the character and extent of his demands so that it is not easy, 
even with judicious circumspection, to keep within reasonable and approved 
limits. 

As the city progresses in its life, all of these features become modified, 
being sometimes aggravated to the danger point or beyond that point, 
sometimes controlled and confined within reasonable bounds. If the first 
is true, the evils of city government become confirmed and scandalous. If 
the latter is ture, a healthy growth points to an honorable and successful 
future. 

Right here let me use the phrase of Professor Brice, whom I have quoted 
before, drawing a sharp comparison between municipal merit and demerit : 

"I do not say that in any of the great European states the mass of the 
rural population is equally competent with the American to work such a 
system (local self-government) ; still it presents a model toward which 
European institutions ought to tend; while the examples of cities like New 
York and Philadelphia offer salutary warnings of what municipal govern- 
ments ought to avoid." 

In asking you for a few moments to consider to-day how far Worcester 
has met the demand put upon her under her changed condition from iifty 
years ago, I would not be supposed to essay either the pen of an unsparing 
critic or that of an unthinking eulogist. Though blame is often more useful 
than praise, praise is vastly more gracious than blame. If we only try to 
hold an even balance between the two, it seems to me the character of 
Worcester will remain exalted beyond most cities of her size. 

Great demands for public works inevitably press themselves on a new city, 
and many circumstances conspire at times to swell the need. These are 
matters which cannot be postponed, and still the meeting them entails large 
expenditure. The case of Worcester was not only no exception to the rule, 
but it has been in fact a rather signal illustration of it. The great question 
of water supply and drainage came early, and of course came together. 
The inland situation of the city, with only a small and heavily-ponded 
stream leading to the sea, and even that coming from sources which them- 
selves presented the best opportunity for the supply of water, through 
almost the whole life of the city, has presented problems bristling with 
dififiiculties and loaded with expense. These culminated in the not wholly 
solved task of sewage purification, which the necessities of the public health 
devolved on us to solve, not only for ourselves and our neighbors below, but 
also, in a charitable spirit, for the whole interior of the Commonwealth — but 
always at our own charge. 

The building of new streets and the endeavor to reasonably answer the 
demand of their repair, and even to reasonably keep abreast with the hue 
and cry for good roads, instigated to imperious demand as it has been by 
the invention of the bicycle; the vast increase of the claims of the schools, 
both for buildings and in the developing system of instruction, and in a 
greater ratio than the increase of population; the development of a tine 
system of parks which can never be accomplished so well as in the early 



136 The Worcester of 1898. 

years of a city; the requirements of the poor, and the beneficent establish- 
ment of hospitals keeping pace with the demand of the times, — all have 
received well-merited attention. 

The adaptation of the city's convenience and needs to the great problems 
of the railroad and of local rapid transit, called and still call for much earn- 
est and judicious consideration. 

Another consideration pressing on the judgment of the citizens of a 
growing city, is the expediency of seeing to it that public work of every 
character is well done, and done to last. This involves a readiness to assume 
responsibility at the right time and a like readiness and courage to wait and 
consider long enough, even in the face of pressure, to insure lasting work. 
There is no such unjustifiable and wicked extravagance as a makeshift — a 
dishonest and false pretence by which it is sought to satisfy a demand for 
bread by giving a stone. 

Now this brief and very important enumeration of the demand of the 
young city and the city of to-day is seldom gone over with careful thought 
by the critics and growlers, and still these are the things that keep up the 
tax rate, and must do so for a long time to come. No one fails to recognize 
the inalienable right of men to complain about taxation. That man would 
be a candidate for immediate translation to the angel world who, although 
he would not sell his business plant for $50,000, should fail to anathematize 
the assessors who taxed it on a valuation of $15,000. 

In examining the records of a city's government, therefore, we should 
pay little heed to the fugitive complaints which echo through the street. 
It becomes us to form thoughtful judgment based on actual investi- 
gation. 

Now my proposition to-day, fellow citizens, is that on the whole the suc- 
ceeding city governments since the charter of 1848 have done good and 
faithful service for the city of Worcester. They have been called to deal 
with puzzling problems, and beyond question have made mistakes, but who 
can say they have been other than honest mistakes? They have been called 
upon to expend millions of dollars, until it has reached millions each year, 
yet who can say they have been guilty of extravagance? There are proba- 
bly more instances of timid neglect of opportunity by city governments 
than of reckless expenditure, and it surely is not open to anyone to 
truthfully say that they are chargeable at any time with dishonesty. 

1 suppose that there is no earthly institution that can be worse than a 
dishonest city government. The opportunity for peculation and jobbery, 
and the temptation toward them, affecting men who make politics a trade 
and live by political manipulation, easily get a foothold on city governments 
if the door be opened to them even a crack. It is then a matter of congrat- 
ulation that no scandal attaches to the first fifty years of Worcester's City 
Government. We may find measures and acts to criticise, for with what 
body of men could we not? But we never will all agree in the same 
criticism, while we can all agree on honest administration. 

So much for the past. Of the present we are a part, and may not hold 
impartial judgment. What, then, of the future? 



The Worcester of 1898. 137 

It is a pretty serious question for Worcester whether she has not reached 
that political and municipal stage at which the dangers, which she has kept 
in good control, are to be enhanced by greater growth, so that the perils of 
the future require greater guards. This is a thought which should sober us 
on this festive day, into an anxious and honest consideration of the question 
whether we shall be able to preserve the creditable purity of purposes which 
has characterized our first fifty years, through the next like period of time ; 
and if so, how? That one patriotic purpose impels us to unanimous deter- 
mination that it must and shall be done, cannot for a moment be doubted. 
But it must be remembered that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, 
and that the danger lies in good-natured slackness and inattention, laziness 
in public duty, and unwillingness to give time and personal effort without 
pecuniary reward to the public service. The election of men who are 
mere politicians for the sake of political turmoil, and who are willing to 
accept an unsalaried office and to perform unremunerated service solely 
with the idea that in some indirect and dark way, possible perquisites may 
be presently pocketed, would impose upon Worcester a scandalized character 
and a corrupt future. The only safety lies in the eager and unselfish care 
which the citizens can bestow in the selection of their servants, both at the 
primaries and at the polls. Inspire the citizens of this hive of industry in 
which we live with the appreciation of the fact that they must personally 
see to this or be undone — convince them that there is no other alternative — 
and it will be done. 

Now what kind of a municipality as town and cit}' is this on which this 
future obligation is imposed? Historically and as she stands, she is to be 
trusted, if ever there was a community worthy of trust. The spires of her 
churches, on whose altars are lighted the fires of fervent religions of all 
creeds, harmoniously working in the cause of Christian society, point 
heavenward all over her broad territory. Prosperous educational institu- 
tions, from the university for original research, standing on the frontier of 
knowledge, the school of science with its eminently practical teachings, the 
college, the academy, the high school and other free public schools, down 
to the kindergarten, distinguish her as a centre of learning. She is blessed 
with citizens who love to advance her institutions and ornament her as a 
home by generous gifts from their abundance. At all times she has been 
and is in advance of all causes of humanity and the champion of every 
good work. What is more important still, she has been and is a typical 
city of well-paid and respected labor, wherein the wheels of industry and 
honest toil are never idle, and her streets are lined with those greatest 
blessings of mankind, the comfortable homes of a great, educated and 
contented laboring population. 

But, above all, she has always been and is patriotically devoted to the 
country and the flag, and, in its defense in every time of need, she has 
been ready to freely shed her young blood. Under Bigelow she promptly 
started her minutemen for Concord, and her citizens stood for the flag 
with Washington through the Revolution and at Yorktown ; her sailors and 
soldiers stood for the flag with Perry and Decatur on the sea, and with 



138 



The Worcester of 1898. 



Jackson at New Orleans; under the lead of a Lincoln, she stood for the 
flag with Taylor at Buena Vista, and Scott at Chapultepec; under the lead 
of a Devens, another Lincoln and a "Ward, she stood for the flag from Bull 
Run to Appomattox; and now again in army and navy she stands bravely 
for the flag that floats over Dewey at Manilla, and Sampson and Schley 
and Shafter at Santiago. 

Is such a city to be trusted with self-government for another fifty years? 
Rather ask we, can such a city be recreant to the trust? While the con- 
cordant voice of her people to-day, being so questioned, gives instant answer 
of confidence and assurance, may her men of calm thought firmly resolve 
to undertake in earnest the trust of public duty, that she may be made safe 
for long years to come. But let them never forget that the city can only 
be assured a safe riding through coming storms if she keep the astute 
goddess of science at the lookout, the faithful god of labor at the engine, 
the goddess of broad learning at the wheel, while the God of heaven 
remains in command over all. 

The exercises closed with singing of the ".Star Spangled Banner" by 
the pupils of the high schools, and music bv the band. 




DAVIS TOWER, LAKE PARK. 



CITY GOVERNMENT OF 1898. 



. F, government of the city of Worcester, in accordance with the 
provisions of the new charter, which was granted by the Legis- 
hiture in June, 1893, is vested in a mayor, nine aldermen — three 
representing the political minority — elected at large, and twenty-four 
members of the Common Council, three from each ward. Following 
are biographical sketches and portraits of the mayor, members of 
the City Council, heads of departments, and other city officials in service 
the present municipal vear. 

MAYOR, BUFU5 B. DODGE, JR. 

Rufus B. Dodge, Jr.. mayor of Worcester in 1S9S, was born in Charlton, 
Massachusetts, November 24, 1861. He is descended in direct line from 
Richard Dodge, who came to America from England and settled in Salem 
in 163S. His father, Honorable Rufus B. Dodge, is a prominent citizen of 
Charlton and has been representative, a State senator, and a justice of 
the peace for more than forty years. Rufus B. , Jr., was educated in the 
public schools of Charlton, and Nichols Academy, Dudley, and early ex- 
hibited indications of those qualities which have since distinguished him. 
At the age of twenty he was elected to the School Committee of his native 
town. He was graduated r//w /n/idi' from the Boston University Law 
School in 1885, taking a three years' course in two years; was admitted 
to the bar in 1885, and has since that time practised his profession in 
Worcester with marked success. He served as an alderman in 1893, 1894 
and 1895, and was president of the Board the last named year. He had the 
distinction of being the youngest man ever chosen alderman in this city. 
He was elected mayor as a Republican in December, 1897, and has dis- 
charged the duties of the ofSce with ability and dignity. He is a ready 
and effective speaker, and on various public occasions — notably the 
dedication of the new City Hall — has represented the city with great 
credit. He possesses the inherited characteristic of independence of mind 
and action, as proved by his course in relation to certain public matters 
during his administration. The chapter on the City Charter and Municipal 
Government in this volume was prepared by him. Mr. Dodge married July 
7, 1887, Mary C. Perry of Millbury. 




RUFUS B. DODGE, Jr. 



The Worcester of 1S98. 
BOARD OF ALDERMEN. 



i4r 




RTON W. POTTER. 



Burton Willis Potter, president of the 
Board of Aldermen, was born in Coles- 
ville, Broome county, New York, Feb- 
ruary 8, 1843. His parents, Daniel and 
Julia Potter, were natives of Vermont. 
Burton was the second of a family of 
ten children. When he was five years, 
of age, the family removed to Hartwick, 
Otsego county, where his boyhood days, 
were passed in working upon the farm, 
and in obtaining such education as the 
country schools afforded, which was sup- 
plemented by a year's attendance at the- 
seminary in Cooperstown, the expenses- 
of which were paid by his own labor. 

At the age of eighteen he enlisted in 
Company A, 14th Regiment, A'ermont 
Volunteers; served in Virginia, and par- 
LH ip.ucd in the battle of Gettysburg, where his regiment took an active 
part in the repulse of Pickett's charge upon the Union lines. After his 
discharge he entered Lawrence Academy at Groton, Massachusetts; gradu- 
ated there in 1865, and passed two years at Williams College. He then 
studied law with Honorable William Lothrop of Rockford, Illinois, and 
with Honorable George S. Boutwell of Boston and at the Harvard' Law 
School. During this interval Mr. Potter taught school in Groton, and 
one year as principal at the academy in Falmouth, Kentucky, where he 
was urged to remain, but declined. He was admitted to the bar in 1868, and 
soon after married Fannie Elizabeth, 
daughter of Alva and Fannie G. Wright 
of Groton. Seven children are the fruit 
of this union, all but one of whom are 
now living. 

Mr. Potter represented Worcester in 
the lower branch of the Legislature for 
three years, was ballot law commissioner 
one year, director of the Free Public 
Library five years, one year as president 
of the Board, has been president of The 
Worcester Society of Antiquity, president 
of the Chamberlain District Farmers' 
Club, and is a trustee of the Worcester 
County Horticultural Society ; and holds 
other responsible positions. In 1882 he 
visited Europe and wrote a series of let- 
ters, which were extensively published. thomas j. barrett. 







142 



The Worcester of 1898. 




Mr. Potter is a man of literary taste and 
ability. He has delivered many public 
addresses, and has written a treatise on 
the "Road and the Roadside," now in 
its third edition, and after the publica- 
tion of which Williams College conferred 
upon him the degree of A. M. 

Mr. Potter's city residence, "Apple- 
croft," is one of the most attractive 
estates in this vicinity. He also owns a 
line farm in Rutland, Massachusetts, 
called " Edgelake Farm," on the shores 
(if Muschopauge pond. 

Mr. Potter was elected an alderman 



HENRY BRANNON. 

under the new charter at the December 
election in 1896, and was re-elected in 
December, 1897, and was chosen presi- 
dent of the Board for 1898. He is a 
Republican in politics. 

Thomas J. Barrett, D. D. S., was bmn 
in Hartford, Connecticut, November 15, 
18C5. He was educated in the Worcester 
schools, and is a graduate of the Penn- 
sylvania College of Dental Surgery. In 
the practice of his profession in Worcester 





NAPOLEON P. HUOT. 



CHARLES H, HILDRETH, 2D. 

(hiring the past twelve years he has been 
\ery prominent, and in 1892 was ap- 
pointed a member of the State Board 
of Registration of Dentistry by the late 
<jovernor Russell; re-appointed for three 
years in 1893, and again in 1896 by act- 
ing-Governor Wolcott. Dr. Barrett is an 
e.\-president of the Washington Club, 
president of the Wapiti Club, and a mem- 
ber of the Elks, and Clover Club in 
l')i>ston. He has served as a member-at- 
large in the Democratic State Committee. 
He was elected an alderman in December, 
1897, as a Democrat. 



The Worcester of i8g8. 



143 



Henry Brannon was born in England 
Marrli 7, 1S50; was brought while an 
infant b)* his parents to Princeton, 
Massachusetts, and was educated in 
the common schools of that town. He 
came to Worcester in 1866, and has been 
for many years a manufacturer of house 
and office furniture. He was elected 
to the City Council in December, 1894, 
and served in 1895, 1896 and 1898 as an 
alderman. He is a Republican in poli 
tics. 

Charles H. Hildreth, 2d, was born in 
West Bovlston, Massachusetts. October 





2, 1857, and was educated in the com- 
mon schools. He came to Worcester 
thirty years ago. He is the owner of 
a large livery and boarding stable on 
Sever street. Mr. Hildreth served in 
the Common Council in 1895 and 1896, 
and in the Board of Aldermen in 1897 
and 1S98. He has always been a Re- 
|)ubliean. 

Napoleon P. Huot was born at Saint 
Cesaire, Canada, January 9, 1844, and 



DAVID F. O'CONNELL. 

was educated at the academy there. He 
became a resident of Worcester in 1875. 
His occupation is that of a merchant. 
He was elected an alderman in Decem- 
ber, 1896, under the new charter, and 
re-elected in 1897 to serve the present 
'■i-ar. In politics he is a Republican. 

James H. Mellen is a native of Worces- 
ter, born November 7, 1845. He was 
educated in the public schools of this 
city. As a politician he has been very 
prominent during the past twenty-five 
years, fourteen of which he has been a 
representative of Worcester in the Legis- 




EDWARD J. RUSSELL. 



144 



THE WORCESTER OF li 




ALBERT M. THOMPSON. 



lature of Massachusetts. Of late years 
he has been interested in real estate and 
stocks. He was elected an alderman 
under the new charter in December, 1896, 
and was re-elected in December, 1897. 
David F. O'Connell was born in County 
Cork, Ireland, February 8, 1858, and be- 
came a resident of Worcester in 1863. 
He was educated in the public schools, 
at the Boston University Law School, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1S79. 
He was elected to the Common Council 
in 18S9, and served seven years; was in 
the Legislature in 1882 and 1883, and in 
December, 1895, was elected an alder- 
man, and has twice been re-elected. He 
is a Democrat. 

Edward J. Russell was born October 23, 1833, in Hadley, Massachusetts, 
and was educated in the common schools and at Deerfield Academy. He 
first came to Worcester in 1854, but did not become a permanent resident 
until 1868. He is the probation officer at the Central District Court. He 
was elected to the Common Council to serve in 1895, and to the Board of 
Aldermen in December, 1897. He has always been a Republican. 

Albert M. Thompson was born in Hubbardston, Massachusetts, March 2, 
1844, and received his education in the common schools of that town, and 
also attended Howes' Commercial College in Worcester. He was a clerk in 
the post office in Barre five years before he came to Worcester in 1867 to 
engage in the flour and grain business. He was a clerk for H. Holden, and 
finally bought his interest, and later, as a member of the firm of Rice & 
Thompson, engaged in the wholesale flour trade. Mr. Thompson is now a 
member of the firm of Garland, Lincoln- & Co., who do the largest flour and 
grain business in the city, maintaining two stores on Main street and Lin- 
coln square, and a large elevator at rear of the Union station. Mr. Thompson 
is a Republican, and was elected an alderman under the new charter in 
December, 1896, and re-elected in December, 1897. 



COMMON COUNCIL. 



Frank B. Hall. The ancient saying, "Old men for counsel, young men 
for war," is hardly in keeping with existing conditions. In this enlightened 
and progressive age, mental grasp and maturity of judgment come early, 
and in nearly all walks young men of calibre come rapidly to the fore in the 
cities of this great republic. Worcester is no exception, and the close of its 
first half century as a city finds a most important position in the local 
government, that of president of the Common Council, being ably filled by 



The Worcester of 1898. 



145 



a young man who is but thirty years of 
age. 

Frank B. Hall is a life-long resident of 
the city. He was born in Worcester Oc- 
tober 23, 1867, and was graduated from 
the Worcester high school in 1887. The 
study of law had already been begun 
by him in the office of Webster Thayer, 
Esq., in this city, and in the fall of 1888 he 
entered Boston University Law School, 
and from the latter he was graduated 
in the class of 'go. He was admitted to 
the bar June 19, 1890, immediatel)^ en- 
gaged in practice in his native city, and 





FRANK B. HALL. 



in the eight years since elapsing he has 
acquired desirable standing in his profes- 
sion. 

In December, 1S94, Mr. Hall was 
elected to the Common Council, an 
honor never before conferred by the 
Republican party on a man so young, 
and each succeeding term since he has 
been re-elected. In 1897 and again this 
year he was elected by that body to be 
its president, and he has the distinction 



JOHN R. BACK. 



of being by far the youngest president 
who has ever occupied the chair. For 
four years, 1885 to 1889, while a pupil in 
the high school and while studying law, 
he was page of the Common Council, so 
that this year is the ninth that he has 
been connected with the Board. His 
successive elections attest his hold on 
the citizens of his ward, and his re-elec- 
tion to the presidency of the Council 
gives the stamp of approval to his con- 
duct of affairs during his first year's 
incumbency of the office. 

Mr. Hall was appointed secretary of 




JOH.'J H, C0I4NELLY. 



146 



The Worcester of 1898. 




the local Civil Service Board in 1893 by 
Honorable Charles Theodore Russell. 
He became a member of the F. and 
A. M. on attaining his majority, and a 
32° Mason when he was twenty-four 
years of age. 

In Twly- 1896, Mr. Hall married Miss 
Jessie A. jNIorse, daughter of Lyman 
Morse of Worcester, 

John R. Back was born in Worcester 
April 24, 185 1. He was educated in the 
public schools of the city. He is engaged 
in business as a manufacturer of machin- 
ists' tools, being associated with the F. 



E. Reed Company. He was elected to 
the Common Council from Ward 6 in 
December, 1895, as a Republican. Mem- 
ber of committees on Education, Legisla- 
tive Matters, Public Buildings, Central 
Wiirkshop, and (yrade Crossings. 

John H. Connelly was born in Spring- 
field, Ohio, on the nth of April, 1855, 
and came to Worcester in 1861. He was 
educated in the common schools and 
spent one year at the high school. He 
is a journeyman plumber by trade, and 





JAMES HUNT. 



a Labor Democrat in politics. He was 
elected to the Common Council from 
Ward 3 in 1895. Member of committees 
on Public Buildings, Mayor's Inaugural, 
and Central Workshop. 

Frank Melville Heath was born at 
Nashua, X. II., September 8. 1852. He 
received his education in the public 
schools of Nashua and ^Manchester, and 
at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial 
College in Manchester. He came to 
Worcester in 1880 and engaged in the 
contracting painting business. He is 



The Worcester of 1S98. 



147 



at present a manufacturer and dealer 
in paints and similar materials, and does 
a large business. He was elected to the 
Common Council from Ward 6 in De- 
cember, 1896, as a Republican. ]Mem- 
bcr of Committee on Lighting Streets. 

George C. Hunt was born in Milford, 
Massachusetts, April 7, 1859, and re- 
ceived his schooling in that town. He 
removed to Worcester in !May, 1882, 
and engaged as a clerk in a boot and 
shoe store. In 18S9 he started business 
for himself in the retail boot and shoe 
trade in the store at 201 ]\Iain street. 





which he still occupies. He was elected 
to the Common Council from Ward 2 
in December, 1896, as a Republican. 
Member of committees on Jlilitary Af- 
fairs, ( )rdinances, and Police. 

James Hunt was born in England Jan- 
uary 27, 1833, and was educated there. 
He learned the trade of a shoemaker, 
and came to America in 1850, and lived 
several years in New Braintree, Massa- 
chusetts, and Stafford, Connecticut. He 
came to Worcester in February, 1873, 



FSED D. JOHNSON. 

and worked in boot shops until 1886, 
with the exception of one year — 1883 — 
when he was a member of the police 
force. Of late years he has been in- 
terested in the development of real 
estate and the building of houses at 
the south end and on Union hill. He 
was appointed constable by Mayor Har- 
rington, and is now a deputy sheriff. 
He is a Republican, and was elected to 
the Common Council from Ward 6 in 
December, 1896. In October, 1898, he 
was nominated as the Republican candi- 
date to represent Ward 6 in the Legisla- 




LOUIS J, KENDALL. 



THE WORCESTER OF 1 898. 




tiire the ensuing session. Member of 
committees on Education and Public 
Buildings. 

Albert H. Inman was born in Worces- 
ter June 30, 1 868, and attended the 
public schools of the city. He engaged 
in the iron and steel business at the 
location in Washington square occupied 
since 1S49 by three generations of the 
family, his grandfather, Francis H., and 
his father, William H. ; being succeeded 
in course of years by the Inman Broth- 
ers, who carry on the business at the 



SXNFCRD C. KENDALL. 

present time. He was elected to the 
Common Council from Ward i in 1895 
to iill an unexpired term, and has been 
twice re-elected. He is a Republican. 
Member of committees on Military Af- 
fairs, Streets, Bills in Second Reading, 
Lake Bridge, and Grade Crossings. 

Fred D. Johnson was born April <>. 
1863, in Newark, Vermont, and received 
a common school education. He be- 
came a resident of Worcester in 1886. 





JOHN F. LUNDBERG. 

His present occupation is that of a com- 
mercial traveler. He was elected to the 
Common Council from Ward 7 in De- 
cember, 1895, as a Republican. Member 
of committees on Fire Department, Cen- 
tral Workshop, and trustee of City Hos- 
pital. 

Louis Jones Kendall was born in Barrc, 
Massachusetts, February 17, 1858, and 
became a resident of Worcester October 
30, 1865. He was educated in the public 
schools and at Howes' Business College. 
His business is that of a farmer. He 
was elected to the Common Council from 



The Worcester of 1898. 



149 



Ward 8 in December, 1896, as a Repub- 
lican. Member of committees on Chari- 
ties, Claims, and Enrollment. 

Sanford Clayton Kendall was born in 
Boylston, Massachusetts, October 6, 1S56. 
He received a common school education. 
With his parents he removed to Worces- 
ter in November, 1871, and he is now- 
engaged in business with his father, 
Horace Kendall, as an auctioneer and 
appraiser. He was elected to the Com- 
mon Council from Ward 2 in 1895 as a 
Republican. He is a member of the 
joint Standing Committees on Charities 





JOHN H. MEAGHEF. 



and Street Lighting, }klilitary Affairs, 
and the Joint Special Committee on the 
Central Workshop. 

John F. Lundberg was born in vSweden 
August 24, 18:^7. He received a com- 
mon school education. He came to 
Worcester in 1883, and is a publisher 
of the Swedish newspaper called Arbc- 
iarcns ]'an. He was first elected to the 
Common Council in December, 1892, and 
served two vears, and was again elected 



WESLEY MERRITT. 

in December, 1897. He is a Republican. 
He is a member of the Joint Standing 
Crimmittee on Education, and on the 
Mayor's Inaugural, and of the Standing 
Committee of the Common Council on 
Elections and Returns. 

Bernard H. McMahon, cciuncilman fmm 
Ward 5, is a member of the committees 
on Lighting Streets, Sewers, and Enroll- 
ment. He is a Democrat. 

John H. Meagher was born in Worces- 
ter October 8, 1872. He was educated 
in the public schools, graduated from 
the high school in 1891, and from the 




PHILIP J. O'CONNE. 



150 



The Worcester of i{ 




Boston University Law School in 1895. 
He was admitted to the bar December 
23, 1895. At the December election of 
1S95 he was elected a member of the 
Common Council from Ward 3, and has 
served by successive re-elections to the 
present time. He is a Democrat. He is 
a member of the Joint Standing Com- 
mittees on Legislative Matters and the 
Police Department. 

Wesley Merritt, councilman from Ward 
7, is a member of the committees on 
Police and Printing. He is a Republi- 



JOHM R. O'LEARY. 

Philip J. O'Connell was Ijorn in Worces- 
ter December 18, 1870. He graduated 
at the Worcester high school in 1889, 
and at the Boston University Law 
School in 1895, and was admitted to 
the bar the same year He was elected 
to the Common Council from Ward 4 
in December, 1895, as a Democrat. He 
is a member of the Finance Committee 
and of the Joint Committees on Legisla- 
tive Matters and the Police, and of the 
Standino; Committee of the Common 





ALBERT M. POWELL. 

Council on Elections and Returns; also 
of Special Committees on City Hall Dedi- 
cation, Semi-Centennial Celebration, and 
the Lake Bridge. 

John R. O'Leary was born in Worces- 
ter December 13, 1870, and received 
a common school education. He is a 
foundryman by occupation. He was 
elected to the Common Council from 
Ward 4 in December, 1896, as a Dem- 
ocrat, He is a trustee of the City 
Hospital and a member of the Special 
Committee on Grade Crossings. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



151 



Albert Man Powell was born in West- 
ville, N. Y. , August 28, 1856. He was 
educated in the common and high schools 
and at the Worcester Polytechnic Insti- 
tute. He has been a resident of Worces- 
ter since 1875, and is a manufacturer of 
machine tools. He was elected to the 
Common Council from Ward 7 in 1895 as 
a Republican. He is a member of the 
committees on Finance, Fire Department, 
Sewers, and the Lake Bridge. 

John Rivard was born at St. Simon, 
County Bagot, Canada, March 6, 1862. 
He became a resident of Worcester in 





JAMES F. RYAN. 

March, 1S82. His business is that of a 
grocer. He was elected to the Common 
Council from Ward 5 in December, 1896, 
as a Republican. He is a member of 
the ciimmittees on Water and Ordi- 
nances. 

James F. Ryan was born and reared 
ill Ward 5. He was educated in the 
Worcester public schools, spent one year 
at Montreal College, and was graduated 
from Holy Cross College. He took up 



JOHN F. SHEA. 

the study of law at the Boston Univer- 
sity School of Law, from which institu- 
tion he was graduated in 1897. He was 
admitted to the AVorcester county bar in 
June, 1897, since which time he has been 
practising law. He was elected to the 
Common Council from Ward 5 in Decem- 
ber, 1897, as a Democrat. He is a mem- 
ber of the committees on Streets, Bills in 
Second Reading, Central Workshop, and 
on the Lake Bridge. 

John F. Shea was born July 4, 1S71, 
in Blackstone, and his family soon after 
removed to Worcester. He attended the 




JAVES F. TIMON. 



152 



The Worcester of li 




GEORGE F. WALL. 



public schools of this city. His present 
business is that of a shipping clerk. He 
was elected to the Common Council from 
Ward 3 in December, 1897, as a Demo- 
crat. He is a member of the committees 
on Charities, Printing, and Elections and 
Returns. 

James F. Timon has been a life-long 
resident of Ward 5 ; was educated in 
the Worcester public schools, graduat- 
ing with the class of '88 from the 
Worcester high school. Continuing his 
studies, he received an A. B. from Holy 
Cross College in 1891. Having chosen 
law for a profession, he entered and 
graduated from the Boston University 
Law School in 1893, and was admitted 
to the bar and began the practice of his profession. He was elected to 
the Common Council from Ward 5 in December, 1897, as a Democrat. 
He is a member of the committees on Claims, Mayor's Inaugural, and 
Enrollment. 

George F. Wall was born in Leicester September 13, 1832, and came to 
Worcester with his father, the late James H. Wall, about the year 1838. 
He attended the common schools of the town, and learned the tailor's 
trade of Asa Walker, which he followed in this city, in Norwich, Con- 
necticut, and in Southbridge, Massachusetts, residing in the last-named place 
twenty-one years. He was at different times in business for himself. He 
finally returned to Worcester in 1879, and of late years has devoted himself to 
the care of his father and his own real 
estate interests in the city. He was 
elected to the Common Council from 
Ward 8 in December, 1896, as a Repub- 
lican. He is a member of the committees 
on Water, Streets, Dedication of City 
Hall, Semi-Centennial Celebration, and 
the Lake Bridge. 

Frederick W. White was born in Mill- 
bury in August, 1859, but has lived in 
Worcester since early childhood. He 
was educated in the public schools of the 
city. In 1876 he entered the People's 
Savings Bank as a clerk, and occupies 
the position of teller in that institution 
at the present time. He has served as 
organist and director of music in vari- 
ous churches for the past twenty years. 




FREDERICK W. WHITE. 



The Worcester of i{ 



153 



During that time he was at the First 
Universalist Church thirteen years, at 
the Old South Church two years, and at 
the First Baptist Church three years. 
He has developed a portion of the 
Merrifield estate on the south side of 
Highland street, and opened forty lots, 
increasing the valuation of that section 
$250,000. Mr. "While was elected to the 
Common Council from Ward i as a 
Republican in December, 1896, and is 
now serving his second term. Member 
of committees on Printing, Sewers, Bills 
in vSecond Reading, and Central Work- 
shop. 

FRAT- E ■■ ' I 'iM-- Frank E. Williamson was born in 

Worcester December 4, 1S54, and was 
educated in the public schools. For a number of years he was cashier 
for the Boston & Maine Railroad, and is now employed in the Worcester 
County Institution for Savings. He was elected to the Common Council 
from Ward i in December, 1894, and is in his fourth year of service. He 
is a Republican in politics. Member of committees on Finance, Fire 
Department, Ordinances, Central Workshop, Dedication of City Hall, 
Semi-Centennial Celebration, and the Lake Bridge. 




CITY OFFICIALS. 



Enoch H. Towne, city clerk, was born 
in Easton, Massachusetts, April 14, 1835, 
and was educated in the common schools 
of his native town. He came to Worces- 
ter in December, 1859, and for a number 
of years was engaged in the grocery busi- 
ness. He was a member of the Com- 
mon Council from 187 i to 1874 inclusive, 
and president of that body in 1874. He 
was a member of the Legislature in 
1875, and the same year was elected an 
assessor, in which capacity he served 
until January, 1877, when he was chosen 
city clerk, and has served continuouslv 
to the present time. By virtue of his 
office he is a member and clerk of the 
Board of Registrars of Voters. 




154 



The Worcester of 1898. 





-X 






jjlv^ 


^^^H^ 


^^■v 


i-^^^^^^^^Rf 



WILLIAM S. BARTON 



William Sumner Barton, city treasurer, 
was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, Sep- 
tember 30, 1824, and removed with his 
parents to Worcester when he was ten 
years of age. He attended the common 
schools, Worcester Academy, and was 
graduated from Brown University in 
1844. Subsequently he studied law with 
his father. Judge Ira M. Barton, with 
Honorable Peter C. Bacon, and at the 
Harvard Law School. He was admitted 
to the bar in 1846. After seven years' 
practice in Worcester, he accepted a 
position in the Bank of Commerce in 
Boston, in which he remained from 
June, 1854, to January, 1872, when he 
was elected treasurer and collector of 
taxes for tRe city of Worcester. He 
has been treasurer of the sinking funds since 1876, and also since 1872 
treasurer ex-oiKcio of all the trust funds of the city. 

Arthur P. Rugg, city solicitor, was born August 20, 1862, in Sterling, Mas- 
sachusetts. • He was educated in the public schools, was graduated from 
the Lancaster high school in 1879, from Amherst College in 1883, and 
from Boston L^niversity Law School in 1886. He has been a counselor-at- 
law in Worcester since 1886, and has rapidly advanced in his profession. 
He served as a memter of the School Committee and as a library trustee 
in Sterling from 1887 to 1889; was assistant district attorney /re tempore 
in May, 1893, and from May to August, 1S94, and held the office by 
appointment from April, 1895, to August, 1897. He was a member of the 

Common Council of the city of Worcester 

in 1894 and 1895, and president of that 
body the last named year. He was elected 
city solicitor in July, 1897, to succeed 
Colonel W. S. B. Hopkins, who had 
resigned. 

Harrison G. Otis, chairman of the Board 
of Assessors, was born in Worcester Sep- 
tember 18, 1835. He was educated in 
the public schools and at Worcester 
Academy. He was for many years in 
the boot and shoe business, first as a 
cutter, then as a traveling salesman for 
the firm of Fitch & Otis, and later for 
Smyth Brothers and for Charles H. Fitch 
& Co. From 1859 to 1863 he was assist- 
ant doorkeeper at the State House in arthur p. rugg. 







The Worcester of 1898. 



155 




ARRISON G. OTI 



Boston, during the time that Hon. Alex- 
ander H. Bullock was speaker of the 
House of Representatives, and when Mr. 
Bullock became governor he appointed 
Mr. Otis his messenger, but other business 
compelled him to decline the place. His 
relations with Governor Bullock were 
close and confidential, and during these 
years he studied law in his office. 

Mr. Otis was elected an assessor in 
1887, and at once chosen chairman of the 
Board, in which station he has served 
continuously to the present time. He has 
made a thorough study of taxation, and 
is prominent and influential in assess- 
ors' gatherings throughout the State ; 
was one of the founders of the Associa- 
tion of Massachusetts Assessors; for four 
years its president, and for the entire ten years of its existence chairman of 
its Legislative Committee. He was for many years a member of the Salem 
Street Congregational Church and treasurer of the society, and is now a 
trustee of Union Society. He is a member of The Worcester Society of 
Antiquity, and of other associations. 

Amos Milton Parker, assessor, was born in Princeton, Massachusetts, 
September 12, 1839. He is a descendant of Captain John Parker of Lex- 
ingtiin fame. He received his education in the public schools of Princeton 
and at the Millbury Academy. He first engaged as clerk in a store in 
Oakdale, and came to Worcester in 1856, and entered the employ of A. Y. 
Thompson, a dry-goods merchant, with whom he remained until the war 
broke out. He was in service with the 
City Guards in 1861, and was compelled 
b)' serious illness to return to Worcester 
within a few months, and was never able 
to again enter the service, although he 
attempted to enlist twice. 

In 1864 he was in the employ of Bar- 
nard, Sumner & Co., the leading dry- 
goods firm in this city, and later in the 
furniture business in the firm of Parker, 
Denny & Co. For ten years from 1868 
he was general agent of the Massa- 
chusetts Mutual Life Insurance Com- 
pany, and afterwards an auctioneer and 
appraiser for several years, and later was 
with the furniture house of Putnam & 
Sprague Company. amos m. parker. 




IS6 



The Worcester of 1898. 




GEORGE B. 



During the period 1874 to 1888 liis 
services were in great demand by fire 
insurance companies throughout New 
England as an appraiser of damage 
caused by fire. This gave him large 
experience in values, thereby peculiarly 
fitting him for the office he now holds as 
one of the Board of Assessors, to which 
place he was elected in 188S, and is now 
serving his fourth term. 

Mr. Parker has twice been commander 
of Post 10, G. A. R. He is a Free ]\Iason 
and Knight <if Pythias, and is prominent 
in the C)rdcr of the Eastern Star, and 
Grand Patron of Massachusetts in 1896. 
He is a member of the First Universa- 
list Church. 
George Bennett Hurlburt, assessor, was born in East Pepperell, Massa- 
chusetts, March 9, 1S64. He was educated in the common schools at 
Uncasville, Connecticut, and graduated from Eastman's Business College, 
Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1882. He came to Worcester in 188S, and 
was employed as cashier and bookkeeper for the Pease Machine Tool 
Company until that concern went out of business, and then entered 
the employ of George F. Hewett Company as bookkeeper. He was a 
member of the Republican City Committee in 1892 and 1893, and of the 
Republican County Committee in 1896 and 1897. He was elected an assessor 
in January, 1898. 

JNIr. Hurlburt is a member of Conquest Council. R. A., and also of 
Worcester Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 56. 
He was married September 20, 1SS7. 

John B. Bowker, city auditor, was born 
in Royalston, Massachusetts, March 12, 
1865. His early years were spent upon 
the farm in his native town. In 1873 he 
removed with his parents to Worcester, 
and was educated in the public schools of 
this city, graduating at the high school 
in 1884. He then engaged for a time as 
clerk in the wholesale provision and prod- 
uce store of his father, and by his active 
interest in, and his practical knowledge 
of, agricultural and kindred matters, 
soon came into prominence in this re- 
gion and throughout the State. He was 
secretary and treasurer of the Central 
Massachusetts Poultrv Association in 




The Worcester of 1898. 



157 




1891 and 1892; secretary and treasurer 
of the Worcester ]Milk: Association in 
1893 and 1894; secretary of Worcester 
Central Pomona Grange, 1S94; secre- 
tary Massachusetts Farmers and Cattle 
Owners' Association, 1895 ; secretary and 
treasurer of the Worcester County Agri- 
cultural Society from 1893 to 1898 inclu- 
sive ; and secretary of the New England 
}»lilk Producers' Association 1898. He 
was elected auditor of the city of Worces- 
ter June 6, 1898, to serve the unexpired 
term of J. F. H(.)well, deceased. 

John G. Brady was born in Norwich, 
Connecticut, October 28, 1833. Helearned 
JOHN G BRADY ^^^ machinist's trade in the shops of the 

Norwich & Worcester Railroad. Subse- 
quently he was for twelve years an engineer on the road, and later 
foreman of the corporation shops in Worcester. He was afterwards master 
mechanic of the Portland & Rochester Railroad, residing in Portland, and 
then for eleven years master mechanic of the Worcester & Nashua Rail- 
road. He was a member of the Common Council from Ward i in Worcester 
in 1881-2, and was an alderman 1883-5 inclusive. In April, 1886, he was 
elected water commissioner, which office he still holds. 

George E. Batchelder, water registrar, was born in ^liddJeton, Massa- 
chusetts, February 16, 1836. He enlisted as a private in Company F, 
40th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, at Lynnfield, Massachusetts, 
August 8, 1862; was transferred to Company P>, 12th Regiment, Veteran 
Reserves, August 26, 1864; mustered out 
as first sergeant. He came to Worcester 
in 1869. For many years he was in charge 
of one of the departments in the Bay State 
shoe factory. He represented Ward 7 
in the Common Council from 1879 to 
1883 inclusive, and in the Legislature 
in 1883 and 1884. While serving his 
second term he resigned in February, 
1884, having been elected water regis- 
trar to succeed J. Stewart Brown. 
While in the Common Council Mr. 
Batchelder was a member of the Com- 
mittees on Water, Street Lighting, and 
Claims, and was conversant with the 
affairs of the water office when first 




elected to the place he now holds. 



GEORGE E. BATCHELDER. 



158 



The Worcester of i{ 




Frederick Albert McClure, son of Charles 
E. and Lucinda (Smith) McClure, was 
horn in Nashua, New Hampshire, Au- 
tiust I, 1 85 2. He was educated in the 
public schools of his native city. In 
i86g he came to Worcester and entered 
the office of the city engineer, where he 
acquired much practical knowledge of 
civil engineering, and other branches 
during his three years' service. During 
the next five years he engaged as assist- 
ant engineer in the construction of rail- 
roads, and from 1877 to 1S91 was again 
employed in the city engineer's office. 
In 1 89 1 he was elected superintendent of 
cDcnccMn. « t--, , MIC scwcrs, aud served in that capacity until 

he was chosen to his present position as 
city engineer in November, 1892, to succeed Charles A. Allen. 

Mr. McClure has more than a local reputation as an engineer. He is a 
member of the Worcester Society of Civil Engineers and other organizations, 
lie was married May 29, 1883, to Ida Evelyn Whittier of Fitchburg. and 
they have one daughter, Evelyn. 

Wright Seth Prior, street coinmissioner, was born in Underbill, \'ermont, 
March 30, 1867. He was educated in the district schools. Underbill Academy, 
and at Norwich University, a military school of high grade at Northfield, 
Vermont. In the latter institution he pursued the regular course in civil 
engineering, and in the military department attained the captaincy, gradu- 
ating in 1S89. After a short term of service in the city engineer's office 
in Brockton, Massachusetts, he went 
south to engage in railroad work in 
Georgia and Alabama, where he was 
employed as typographer in the prelimi- 
nary survey for the Georgia, Tennessee 
& Illinois Railroad. Several months of 
1892 he was in the city engineer's office 
in Worcester, and later entered into 
business on his own account in Atlanta, 
Georgia, in railroad and city work, which 
the serious illness of his father influ- 
enced him to relinquish, and he returned 
north and spent some time at his birth- 
place in Vermont. In 1893 he was 
again employed by the city engineer in 
Worcester, and during the succeeding 
five years was in charge of the field work. 
He was elected street commissioner Jan- 




The Worcester of 1898. 



159 



ftRRISON P. EDDV 



^ " uary 4, 1898. Mr. Prior married, October 

^^^^■1^^,,^,^^, 1896, Mary E., daughter of R. James 

^^^^^^^^F ^s^<^^ Tatman of Worcester. They have one 

^^^^^^^K child, Helen, born July 4, 1897. 

^^^^^^K ^^^A Charles H. Peck, superintendent of 

PM^HB^BI ^^^B public buildings, was born in Smith- 

" ™ field, Rhode Island, March 11, 1S29. He 

attended the schools of his native town 
and also the Millbury Academy. He 
came to Worcester in 1847 and learned 
the carpenter's trade of John F. Gleason, 
and subsequently spent a year and a half 
in the office of Elbridge Boyden, the lead- 
ing architect of this section for many 
years. He was in the building business 
with Stephen D. Tourtelott for sev- 
eral years. ^Ir. Peck enlisted in the 
51st Massachusetts Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion and served until 
that regiment was discharged, when he resumed the business of contractor 
and builder, and continued in it until February, 1875, when he was 
chosen the first superintendent of public buildings, and has annually been 
re-elected to the present time. 

Freeman Brown, clerk of the Board of Overseers of the Poor, was born 
in Hubbardston, Massachusetts, January 31,1845. He is the son of the late 
Lyman and Salome (Rich) Brown, and is descended on his father's side 
from Eleazer Brown, the first settler of Hubbardston in 1737, and his son 
Ebenezer, who was a Revolutionary soldier. Freeman came to Worcester 
with his parents to reside April i, 1849, and was educated in the common and 
high schools of this city. In 1862 he 
entered the office of the IVorccstc?- Spy 
as a clerk, and in 1874 became a reporter 
for that newspaper, the entire period of 
his service covering more than twenty- 
four years, until in 1886 he engaged as a 
reporter for the Worcester Telegram, and 
continued for four y.ears in that situation. 
He was elected a member of the School 
Board to serve in 1886, 1887 and 1888, 
and in January, 1891, was chosen to his 
present position as clerk of the Overseers 
of the Poor. 

James C. Coffey, clerk of the Board of 
Health, was born in Worcester Novem- 
ber ri, 1S54. He was educated in the 
public schools and at Howes' Business 
College. He first worked for F. M. & 




i6o 



The Worcester of 1898. 




FREEMAN BRO/VI- 



N. H. Clark, butchers, a short time; next 
for the Bay State Shoe Company a year, 
and then was employed by Hill & Devoe, 
(.■n\-el(>pe makers, for about fourteen 
years, until he was appointed to his 
present position in January, 1884. Mr. 
Cofifey was elected to the Common Coun- 
cil in l)ecenil)er, iSSo, and served in iSSi 
and 1S82 and by re-election in 1883, and 
resigned in January, 1884, to assume the 
duties of clerk of the Board of Health. 
While in the Common Council he served 
on the Committees on Public Buildings 
and the Fire Department, and was also 
a trustee of the City Hospital. 

James M. Drennan, Worcester's chief 
of police, has had large experience as 
an army officer and in police service. After the War of the Rebellion 
he was, in 1865, appointed by Mayor Ball a deputy marshal, and served 
during Mayor Ball's term and the first year of Mayor Blake's. The second 
year of Mayor Blake's administration, he was appointed chief, and filled 
that office until January, 1872, serving under Mayor Chapin after the death 
of Mr. Blake in December, 1870, and also under Mayor Earle in 1871. In 
1872 he was appointed an officer of the State force, and continued in that 
station until the reorganization of the State police in 1879. In January, 
t88o, he again became city marshal of Worcester by appointment of Mayor 
Kelley, remaining with him during the two years of his administration, and 
was also chosen to perform the same duty by Mayor Stoddard in 1882. From 
1883 to 1897 he was a deputy sheriff, and 
served during that time under Sheriffs 
Sprague, Nye and Chamberlain. In 
1897 he once more, by designation of 
Mayor Sprague, assumed the duties of 
chief of police, and was reappointed by 
Mayor Dodge the present year, making 
a continuous service of thirty-three years 
as an officer of the law, during twelve of 
which he has been connected with the 
Worcester police. Under his efficient 
administration many important changes 
have been made in the department, the 
most notable of which was the one of 
1897, by which the old organization with 
a city marshal and two deputy marshals, 
etc., was superseded by that with a chief 
of police, deputy chief, two lieutenants, james c, coffey. 




The Worcester of iJ 



i6i 




JAMES M. ORENNAN. 



five sergeants, two inspectors, one secre- 
tary, two drivers, one matron, one jani- 
tor and 117 patrnlmen, which represents 
the department as it is now constituted. 
This change in substance was recom- 
mended by Colonel Drennan during his 
former term of office in 1882, and under 
the new form the work of the depart- 
ment and the improved discipline give 
increased satisfaction. Worcester to-day 
is as ')rderly a city as anyone of its size 
in the world. 

Charles H. Benchley, mayor's clerk, is 
the s(jn of the late Henry W. Benchle)', 
president of the Massachusetts Senate in 
1S55, and lieutenant-governor in 1S56 
and 1857. He was born in Worcester 

August 6, 1848, and received his education in the public schools of this 

city and Millbury, and at the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, Kent's Hill, Maine. 

He served in the War of the Rebellion as corporal of Company F, ist 

Battalion Heavy Artillery, Massachusetts Volunteers, and was in the 

United States Navy from 1869 to 1873. He was a member of the 

Worcester police force from 1876 to 1883, bookkeeper for Prentice Brothers 

from 18S2 to 1889, and bookkeeper in Rochester, New York, from 1S90 

to 1892. In 1S93 he was appointed to his present position as mayor's 

clerk. He is a member of George H. Ward Post 10, Grand Army of 

the Republic, and was its commander in 1887. His son, the lamented 

Lieutenant Edmund N. Benchley, was killed in the battle of San Juan Hill, 

Santiago, Cuba, July ist, 1898. 

Henry A. Knight, superintendent of 

street lighting and supervisor of wires, 

was born in Worcester August 21, 1853, 

son of Alden B. and Mary J. (White) 

Knight. The famil)-, through successive 

generations, have resided in Worcester 

for more than 100 years. Henry was 

educated in the public schools of the city, 

and for' several years was in the milk 

business. Later he became a dealer in 

coal, and was a member of the firm of 

Mann & Knight. When the office of 

superintendent of street lighting was 

created in 1S91, Mr. Knight was chosen 

to fill it, and in 1895 was also elected 

supervisor of wires, both of which offices 

he now holds. charles h. benchley 




1 62 



The Worcester of li 




^Ir. Knight married, in iSSi, Effie J., 
daughter of Thomas B. and Emily 
Phelps of Hopkinton, and later of West 
Boylston. They have one son. Rock- 
wood, born in 1885. 

Fred Lincoln Hutchins, deputy collect- 
or, was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, 
vSeptember 10, 1851, and was educated in 
the public schools of that town. He was 
twenty-two years in railroad service, first 
as telegraph operator, then rising through 
several gradations to the general charge 
of the "Worcester freight business of the 
Boston & Maine Railroad, with charge 



HENRY A. KNIGHT. 



of freight-train men. In 1893 he was ap- 
pointed deputy collector of ta.xes in the 
office of the city treasurer. Mr. Hutchins 
is much interested in matters of current 
thought, is prominent and active in the 
First Unitarian Church, and is general 
secretary of the North American Vola- 
plik Association. In 1896 he became 
president of The Worcester Society of 
Antiquity, and by his energetic methods 
has effected a radical change in the char- 
acter of that institution. 





FRED L. HUTCHINS. 



Thomas Monahan was born in Ireland, 
came to New Brunswick in 1846, and 
three years later to Worcester. He 
attended school in this city, and then 
worked at shoemaking until 1855, when 
he engaged in the meat business, at first 
in the employ of others, and finally in 
1 86 1 on his own account, and continued 
in it until he sold out to his sons in 1895. 
He served two years in the Common 
Council, and was assessor one year. In 
1894 he was appointed inspector of cattle 
and provisions. 



WORCESTER: 1848-1898. 

Bv Frank Roe Batchklder. 

I\'E; decades have her children kept 
Her civic honor free from stain. 

While with the world she's laughed and wept, 
And shared her country's loss and gain. 

Foremost in all that makes for good, 
With bounty ranging far and wide. 

From the straight path of rectitude 
Her feet have never turned aside. 

Fecund in wise and generous law. 

Her lesser sisters look to her 
For high example, void of flaw, 

In genius to administer. 

The hiss of Scandal's venomed tongue 
Dies ere it reaches her confines; 

No hint of broken trust has flung 
Disgrace upon her large designs. 

She toils and ventures, strives and builds. 
And seeks to sweeten life for all 

The craftsmen of her thousand guilds 
Who answer to her every call. 

Crowned by the smoke of many mills. 
She welcomes workers to her gate ; 

And in her children's hearts instills 

Love for the toil that makes her great. 

Proud of her myriad machines, 

Her flashing looms, her glowing fires. 

Not less to other good she leans. 
Not less to gentler art aspires. 



i64 The Worcester of 1898. 

Pat r( 111 nf every useful thin^^. 

She sits at Learning's feet, nor finds 

Her glory less that she should bring 
Her tribute to the might of minds. 

So has she made and kept her place, 
And taught her name to distant lands, 

Her skill the marvel of the race — 
Far sought the labor of her hands. 

(ireat where her least result is known, 
From her grim, busy factories 

Her products go to every zone 
In ships that sail the seven seas. 

Yet does she make, when all is said, 
No product more desired of men, 

No brighter chaplet for her head. 
Than her grand type <if citizen. 

In war and peace, in school and shop. 
Beyond the knowledge of her name. 

Rising insistent to the top. 

Those she has bred have brought her fame. 

A little while we hold her trust 

Till Time sets others in our place ; 

Let us not see her armor rust. 
Nor fear to look her in tlie face. 

When her bright century is run, 
Be ours to have our children say 

Their service is the better done 
For that we render her to-dav. 







THE W0BCE5TER OF 1898. 



![( )RE than one hundred thousand souls have a eommon interest 
and an equal partieipation in the jnivileges and benefits whieh 
have resulted from the efforts of the past. In ntimber and eonibina- 
tion of advantages Woreester stands unsurpassed among Ameriean 
cities. Its diversity of industries prevents, even in times of general 
depression, anything like complete stagnation. Its steam and electric 
railways afford easy local transit and facility of cominunication in all 
directions. An abundant and unfailing supply nf pure water and an 
extensive sewer svstem safeguard the public health. Its numerous 
and beautiful parks offer areas of recreation. Tlic number and char- 
acter of its public schools and establishments for higher learning, its 
public libraries, and its literary and .scientific institutions, give facili- 
ties for education and culture not excelled if equaled by those of any 
other city of its size in America. All this and much more can be 
said. With a valuation of over one hundred millions, its debt of five 
millions seems not formidable in consideration of the many and great 
benefits and improvements secured and enjoyed. And unless pro- 
phetic vision discloses future universal ruin, nothing darkens the local 
prospect of the half centurv to come, or indicates that the onward 
march will in anv degree be slackened or brought to a sudden stop. 

In the following chapters the various institutions, forces and influ- 
ences which are active and prominent in our city of to-day, are treated 
in detail by able and well-known writers, whose names are sufficient 
evidence of the reliability and value of the information they impart. 



D 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 

By Ci.arkxce F. Cakk(.ili,, A. ^1.,* 
Superintendent of Public Schools. 

|T may be affirmed without danger of contradiction that no citv in 
America can claim to rival Worcester in the number and variety 
of its general educational institutions. The following enumeration of 
these institutions will be of interest: Classical High School, English 
High School, forty-five grammar and primary schools and ten suburban 
schools, Worcester Academy, Holy Cross College, Highland Military 
Academy, W^orcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester vState Normal 
School, Clark University, other private schools and business colleges. 

The great Public Library and the beautiful Art Museum should 
perhaps be added to the list, and the museum of Natural History 
and the museum of The Worcester vSociety of Antiquity, under their 
present efficient management, may fairly be counted as at least 
au.xiliaiy educational institutions. 

Nearly every one of these institutions, including our high schools 
and our Public Library, have attained a position of acknowledged 
leadership. As this statement is intended principally for Worcester 
readers, and as it is our purpose to celebrate the attainments of our 
city on the fiftieth annivei^sary of its incorporation, it will be my privi- 
lege and duty to set forth in some positive form the merit and useful- 
ness of these several institutions which are at once our pride and 
important sources of our strength. 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

C)f all these institutions, the public schools are naturally nearest to 
the hearts of the people, and properly claim the place of honor in this 
history. Moreover, they have been the chief instrument in promoting 
the intelligence of the people, and we must depend upon them in the 
future to insure to every home the priceless blessings of an advancing 
Christian civilization. 

The School Committee, under the statutes, has most of the powers 
of a great corporation. It consists of twenty-four members, one-third 



*See sketch in Biographical Department. 




CLARENCE F. CARROLL. 



The Worcester of 1898. 169 

of whom are elected annually. Ten different committees are charyed 
with the duty of considering and reporting upon inost of the new 
business introduced. Routine matters, for example the purchase of 
regular supplies, the appointment of teachers, the payment of bills, 
and the management of special subjects, are left largely with the 
appropriate committees. 

The amount of money disbursed far exceeds that expended in any 
other department. Every expenditure of money is atithorized in 
advance by the proper committee, and in no other city department 
can it be shown so plainly whether or not an expenditure is for value 
received. 

The cost per pupil in the graded schools is rather below that of 
other cities with which we are willing to be classed. This statement 
would apply also to our high schools, though in view of the large 
number of pupils in the high schools, the actual cost of high school 
instruction may be regarded as excessive. 

The following have been introduced into the schools as separate 
brandies: 

Singing, 1862; drawing, J^lay, 1869; physical culture, September, 
1891; kindergarten. May, 1892; manual training, September, 1895; 
I^nglish course in high school. English high school was occupied in 
September, 1892. 

It is difficult for one acquainted with the operation of the school 
system as we view it at the present time, to concei^'e of the curriculum 
in wjiich the studies named above do not appear. In the old school 
the day was made up almost entirely of reading from a single familiar 
book, and doing sums, and spelling, and writing in a copy-book. Both 
history and geography are comparatively recent innovations, and in 
many of the schools of the Commonwealth would be counted as innova- 
tions. To-day every child attains considerable skill in the art of repre- 
.sentation with pencil, brush or crayon, or with all three. In the study 
of nature, drawing is constantly brought into use, and the most limited 
exhibit of school work is generally a revelation to persons not directly 
interested in the care of schools. Voices of children put to shame 
trained choirs in the execution of familiar and difficult music. For at 
least ten minutes every day, every child in the city below the high 
school exercises muscles in every part of the body with a view to the 
development of the body and with the direct aim of increasing intel- 
lectual vigor. In some form, study of the world without has a place 
in every school. Manual training makes it possible for every boy who 
reaches the ninth grade to learn the elements of mechanic arts. The 
kindergarten takes the children of the rich and the poor before school 
age and teaches them the great lessons of politeness and good will. 



I/O 



The Worcester of 1898. 



It brings into life all the best impulses of the child, and gives him an 
invaluable training in industry and concentration. 




CLASSICAL HIGH SCHOOL, MAPLE STREET. 

The English and scientific courses that have almost over-shadowed 
classical training in the high schools explain in large part the increase 
in numbers, amounting to more than 200 per cent, within ten years. 



The Worcester of 1898. 171 

In this enumeration it should be added that the liberal introduction 
of reading matter into every school-room has perhaps accomplished 
as much as all the other changes mentioned in broadening school 
curriculum and redeeming it from its severe tendencies. 

A parent has now a right to expect the atmosphere of the school- 
room to be very much like that of the best homes. The changes 
brought about by the introduction of these new subjects has affected 
the school both socially and morally. This higher standard is instinct- 
ively applied in judging the school not only by parents, but by school 
officers as well. While the child of human life in the school-room has 
thus been indefinitely broadened, no friend of the school of ancient days 
can claim that there is any lack of thoroughness in numbering, writing, 
reading or spelling. 

An exhibit that has just been presented to the public has demon- 
strated that the art of writing a new hand can be attained almost to 
perfection by nine out of ten children in a single year. Children can 
not only cipher with old-time accuracy in division, fractions and per- 
centage, but they easily express themselves independently of slate and 
pencil in fractional parts, measures, per cents and ratios. Children 
discuss questions of historv and geographv with an intelligence entirely 
unknown in former times. In reading and spelling they have increased 
their vocabulary a thousand-fold, and have learned to love prose and 
poetry and song of their own and other times. That the spelling has 
not suffered is proved by reviewing not a list of words prepared from a 
speller, but by reading a hundred of the uncorrected papers now on 
exhibition treating of many different subjects. 

This claim would be immodest if it were to be applied simply to the 
schools of Worcester, but assuming that Worcester holds its place 
educationally with the schools of a hundred other cities of her class 
in the country, the statements made in regard to the new spirit of 
the school-room, the broadening of the curriculum and the improved 
thoroughness, may be accepted without hesitation by the citizens of 
^Vorcester as being within the bounds of reason. 

It is claimed by reformers that most of the great desired changes in 
civilization date from the school-room. Very often these claims are 
arbitrary, and the authors would define both the method and the 
process. While they may make mistakes in both of these directions, 
it remains true that they have never claimed enough in this direction. 
The quiet, moulding force of the influences — social, industrial, physical, 
and I may add religious — that are to-day in full operation in the best 
schools, of which there are many in this city, has never been set forth, 
much less appreciated, by even the parents of the children them- 
selves. 



1/2 



The Worcester of 1898. 



Instinctively we have grasped the value of the public school. 
Statutes compel the attendance of all children. The most benighted 
parent eagerly accepts the boon. Many a struggling family makes 




ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL, IRVING STRhET. 



extreme sacrifices to swell the great numbers in our high schools and 
colleges. But words fail us if we attempt to put into words the true 
meaning of the American school system, and we view its beneficent 
influences in silent admiration. 



The VS'orcester of 1898. 



173 



The number of teachers employed in the public schools in 1848, 
when ^Vorcester was incorporated as a city, is as follows: 34 graded 
school teachers, 5 high school teachers — total, 39. The population in 
1848 was about 15,000. 

Number of teachers employed in 1873, twenty-five years after the 
date of incorporation, was: 143 graded school teachers, 9 high school 
teachers, 7 special teachers — total, 159. The population in 1873 was 
47,000. 

The number of teachers employed in 1898 is 407 graded school 
teachers, 62 high school teachers, 1 5 special teachers — total, 484. The 
estimated popi:lation in 1898 is 106,000. 

The following table will show the changes in population, valuation, 
number of pupils, increase of teachers' salaries, and cost of schools 
during the last fiftv vears : 

1848-1897. 



Ye.\r. 


Population. 


Valuation. 


No. of School 
Children. 


Cost per 
Scholar. 


Teachers' 
Salaries. 


Total 
Expense. 


1848 


15,000* 


$8, 72 1,000 


3,ooof 


$4-71 


$11,958 


$14,800 


1850 


17,049 


1 1 ,082, 501 


3.184 


5-56 


14,250 


i8,ooo 


i'^55 


22,284 


18,059,000 


3,974 


6.41 


23,795 


29.915 


1860 


24,960 


16,406,900 


4,820 


10. 10 


25,038 


33.500 


1865 


30,058 


18,937,000 


5.983 


10.95 


39,862 


5', 721 


1870 


41,105 


34.018.450 


6.657 


16.00* 


85,383 


105,000 


'875 


49,317 


49,299,781 


8,896 


20.07 


110,345 


153.210 


iS8o 


58,291 


41,006,862 


10,887 


16.30 


112,597 


144,406 


1885 


68,380 


52.719.391 


12,981 


19.80 


'54.9S5 


213,076 


iSgo 


84.655 


73.531.060 


14.933 


22.29 


200,400 


278,956 


'895 


98.767 


88,080,816 


17.935 


27-59 


297.969 


429,631 


I<Sg7 


106,000* 


98,520,591 


20,004 


27-51 


326, lOI 


505,542 



* Estimate. f Nearly. 

The date of occupation of the following school-houses will be of 
interest : 



School-houses. 

Lamartine, 

Dix, . 

Edgeworth, 

Woodland, 

Ledge, 

Belmont, 



Mav, 1868. 
May, 1868. 
May, 1869. 
May, 1870. 
May, 1870. 
May, 1 87 1 



174 



The Worcester of i! 



School-houses. 

High School, 

Winslow, 

Grafton, 

Lake View, 

Valley Falls, 

Woodland, . 

Canterbury, 

Millbury, . 

Chandler, 

Gage, 

Freeland, 

Lee, 

Bloomingdale, 

Greendale, . 

Ledge, 

Jamesville, . 

Adams Square, 

Quinsigamond, 

Salisbury, . 

Cambridge, 

Downing, 

English High, 

North Worcester 

Greendale, . 

Union Avenue, 

Elizabeth, . 

Abbott, 

Ward, 

Dartmouth, 

L^^psala, 

Malvern Road, 

Midland, 

Lamartine, 

Jamesville (rebui 

Providence, 

Adams 

Woodland, . 

Canterburv, 

Harlow, " . 



It), 



Occup 

January ( ?), 



September, 



September, 



September i, 

April, 

April, 

September, 

February, 

September, 

September, 

September, 

. January, 

April, 

April, 

September, 

. October, 

. October, 

Being 

Being 

Being 



885 
885 
885 
886, 
886 
886 
887, 
888 
889 
890 
891 



893 
894 
894 
894 
895 
895 
89s 
895 
897 
897 
897 

897 

897 

897 

built 

built 

built 



THE WORCESTER ACADEMY.* 



The school now known as the "Worcester Academy" was founded 
under the attspices of the Baptist denomination, and incorporated in 
1834 as the "Worcester County Manual Labor High School." The 
school's original plant comprised a tract of sixty acres of land, and 
buildings erected thereon, at an expense of about $10,000, situated on 



* The different educational institutions are treated in order in accordance with the date 
of their foundation. 



The Worcester of 1898. 175 

Main street at the point where Benefit street now enters it. This 
street, indeed, is said to derive its name from the fact that the sale of 
this original property for the opening of said street at a time when 
the school's finances were at low ebb, enabled the school to continue 
its existence in less spacious quarters. As its name would indicate, 
the school was intended to help young people to pay their own way 
to an education. The general principles laid down by the founders 
are thus stated in Lincoln's "History of Worcester," published in 1836: 
"That the instruction should be of the first order; that strict moral and 
religious character should be attained; and that every facility should 
be afforded for productive labor, to the end that education shcuild be 
good, but not expensive." 

It is remarkable how, through all the vicissitudes of its career, the 
school has clung to these first principles, even to the last; for the 
boy who pays for his education by the work of his own hands remains 
to-day a very considerable element in the school's membership. 

In its first home the school made for itself a most worthy beginning. 
Its first three principals were Silas Bailey, Samuel S. Greene and 
Nelson Wheeler, all of whom afterwards became conspicuoirs in col- 
lege and university positions. Some of the students, too, of those 
early days have attained distinction. Honorable William T. Harris, 
LL. D., who has won for himself an international reputation as United 
States commissioner of education, was for a time a student here. 

After its really noble beginning came a long period of decline, with 
frequent changes in the principalship. About 1 860 the original plant 
was sold, and during the next ten years the school continued as a day 
school simply, occupying the old Antiquarian hall just off Lincoln 
square. Among the several principals of this period, one is to be noted 
as having really saved the school's life. Doctor Albert P. Marble, 
afterwards for so many years superintendent of the public schools of 
^Vorcester, during his two years' principalship of the academy success- 
fully resisted a movement to discontinue the school and transfer its 
funds, then aggregating about $40,000, to the Newton Theological 
Seminary. 

Finally, about 1870, the school again changed its home and moved 
to its present site on L'^'nion hill. Here it became agairr a boarding- 
school, occupying what was then known as the "Dale Hospital" (the 
present "Davis Hall"), a building which had run meantime its own 
checkered career, first as a medical college, then as a female seminary, 
and again in the war-times as a soldiers' hospital. In its new home 
under the principalship of Professor William C. Poland, now of Brown 
University, and of Nathan Leavenworth, who died in devoted service 
to his charge, the school gained an impulse toward better things. 



The Worcester of 1898. 177 

Upon the death of Principal Leavenworth in 1882, his work was 
taken up by the present principal, D. W. Abercrombie, LL. D.,* a 
man of rare energy, courage, determination and executive abilitv, and 
possessed moreover of remarkable powers as a teacher and inspirer of 
boys. During Principal Abercrombie's brilliant administration of six- 
teen years, the school has made history for itself so fast and has 
achieved so remarkable an expansion and development that no brief 
account can at all do justice to it. The membership of the school has 
grown from about 50 to 230; its equipment from one rather dilapi- 
dated building to five of the finest school buildings to be found in 
this country, and to a property valued at $650,000. But the real 
success of this period is only partially and imperfectlv indicated by 
this phenomenal growth in material ways. 

It is perhaps better indicated by the steady growth in reputation 
and prestige that has come to the school in these latest years. From 
being little known beyond the limits of its own county and denom- 
ination, it has come to be widely known and recognized, not simply 
as one of the few institutions of its class that have sur\'ived the intro- 
duction of the modern high school, but also- as a worthy rival of the 
ver}- best and strongest and most famous secondary schools in the 
country in point of organization, equipment, wholesome athletic life, 
and general good name. The catalogue for the present year contains 
the names of 232 students from twenty-two difTerent states and from 
nine different countries. 

No small part of the school's history is enshrined in the names of 
its several buildings. The original building of the present group, the 
older dormitory, bears appropriately the name " Davis Hall," in honor 
of Honorable Isaac Davis, LL. D., who was during the first thirty-nine 
years of the school's existence president of its Board of Trustees. The 
first of the newer buildings, erected in 1889, is "Walker Hall," named 
in honor of Honorable Joseph H. Walker, LL. D.,one of the staunchest 
supporters of the school, and president of its Board of Trustees since 
1S-3. Walker Hall is a most attractive and serviceable building, 
containing, besides recitation-rooms for all except the purely scientific 
studies, the principal's office, the chapel, the "Nelson Wheeler Libran,-," 
and a thoroiighly-equipped g\-mnasium. 

In 1892 were erected "Adams HalL" one of the most beautiful 
dining-halls in the country, and the fine new dormitor}-, " Dexter 
Hall," named in honor of one of the school's greatest benefactors, Mr. 
William H. Dexter of this city. 

The " Kingsley Laboratories," named in honor of another of the 
benefactors of the school. Honorable Chester W. Kingsley, of Cam- 

*See sketch in Biographical Department. 




DANIEL W. ABERCROMBIE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 179 

bridge, have been recently completed, and make possible instruction 
in the sciences on the most improved plans. The great building is a 
chaster of seven groups of laboratories for as many distinct sciences, 
with ample provision, besides, for instruction in mechanical drawing 
and in manual training. Elementary and advanced chemistrv, elemen- 
tary and advanced physics, physiography, zoology, botany, meteor- 
ology, anatomy and physiology have their respective laboratories, 
stock-rooms and lecture-rooms. All of these sciences ai^e taught on 
the laboratory plan, and have a full equipment of the most practical 
apparatus. The erection of the Kingsley Laboratories marks the firm 
and equal establishment in this school of the scientific with the classical 
side of instruction, and gives the Worcester Academy an equipment 
for teaching natural science probably unequaled among secondary 
schools. 

The instruction remains as the founders of the school stipulated it 
should be, "of the first order." The faculty has increased during 
Doctor Abercrombie's principalship from five members to fourteen, each 
of whom has been thoroughly and specially trained for the work of 
his own department. The graduates of the school are found in all the 
leading colleges and scientific schools of New England, and win for 
themselves high rank in scholarship, as well as large recognition and 
influence in all the athletics and social and literarv organizations of 
college and university life. 

Not only are the intellectual standards of the school of the highest, 
as is evidenced by the thoroughly developed and up-to-date course of 
study, but the whole phvsical and moral tone of its life is most whole- 
some. Exercise in the gymnasium is compulsory, and under the charge 
of a resident instructor. Careful arrangements are made for wise 
instruction and supervision. Before entering upon the gymnasium 
work, everv' pupil undergoes a thorough physical examination ; any 
weaknesses are carefully noted and exercise is prescribed accordingly. 
Facilities for outdoor exercise are especially good. There is a play- 
ground of ten acres, arranged for football and tennis, and pnn-ided 
with a fine oval, which has a cinder track, five laps to the mile. The 
track cost $10,000, and is considered the best five-lap track in New 
England. Wisely regulated athletic sports constitute an important and 
very healthful feature of the life of the school. It is here especially 
that the general spirit of activity and enterprise, so characteristic of 
the whole institution, finds its expression among the boys themselves. 
The year just closed has been a notable one, marked by four splendid 
successes in the line of general field and track athletics : the winning of 
the silver shield at Boston in the meet held for "indoor" sports by the 
schools of eastern Massachusetts, the winning of the silver cup at the 



i8o The Worcester of 1898. 

similar meet lield in Woreester for "outdoor" sports, the victory for 
the fourth successive year in tlie dual meet with Phillips-Andover 
Academy, and the winning of second place for the Worcester 
Academy bv four of its representatives in the recent national inter- 
scholastic meet in New York. Best of all, the Worcester Academy has 
won the reputation of being "a clean school" athletically and morally. 

Finally, the Worcester Academy is a Christian school, founded and 
maintained by Christian men. Its faculty contains only Christian men, 
who value character above scholarship, and who seek by close personal 
contact with the students in all the intercourse of daily life to inculcate 
by precept and by example good manners and sound morals. This 
close personal contact of teachers with pupils tends to an increased 
manliness of bearing and maturity of thought and character among 
the students, and secures moreover a general si:pervision that is not 
inconsistent with proper self-government. Indeed, here in the Wor- 
cester Academy is a veritable republic in miniature, in which rich boys 
and poor boys side by side face the same duties, enjoy the same privi- 
leges, and find themselves embarked together upon the same enterprises. 
Thus they learn to know and to respect one another, and they imbibe 
here at school those qualities of good citizenship so essential to their 
happiness and success in the larger life that awaits them beyond the 
walls of the acadeinic enclosure. 

In short the very name of the Worcester Academy has become a 
source of just pride, b(.)tli to Worcester and to New England. 



COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS. 

The following statement is taken from the " Historical Sketch of the 
College of the Holy Cross prepared for the International Exhibition of 
1876": 

"The College of the Holy Cross was founded by the Right Reverend 
Benedict Joseph Fenwick, second bishop of Boston. The most cher- 
ished wish of that eminent prelate was to establish in his diocese an 
institution which should furnish a secular education of the highest 
grade, and at the same time imbue the students with the principles of 
the Catholic religion. He was aided in his first steps to realize this 
desire by the generosity of Rev. James Fitton of Boston. Boagachoag, 
or Hill of Pleasant Springs, near Worcester, had been already conse- 
crated to the interests of Catholic education by that zealous clergyman. 
He had erected there, in 1840, the Seminary of vSt. James, a frame 
building seventy feet long and two stories high. This, witli nearly 
sixty acres of land attached, he presented to the bislicip in 1842. 



The Worcester of i8g8. i8i 

" The fact that the site was a gift, was not the only consideration 
that determined the bishop to erect his college upon it — the acknowl- 
edged beauty and healthfulness of the location were controlling motives. 
Boagachoag is nearly two miles from the city. The view of the sur- 
rounding country from the top of it is very fine. Looking northward, 
we see Worcester — thirty-three years ago a town of ten thousand 
inhabitants, now a city containing fifty thousand. Then it seemed a 
small village far away ; now it has crept up to the banks of the Black- 
stone river, and seems like a large city filling the plain. Looking east 
and south we see, in the spacious valley studded with farm-houses, the 
village of Quinsigamond, and farther off the town of Millbury. On 
the northwest the eye meets Still AVater, a lake in miniature, and 
the rippling Blackstone; following the encircling hills, it rests on 
Wachusett mountain, dark and grim in tlie distance. That the 
position was healthful, the dry, pure air, and marked facilities for 
exercise in winter and summer, were full assurance. 

"The bishop made arrangements at once to build the college on so 
eligible a spot. According to the plan adopted, the central building 
was to be 104 feet long, with wings running east and west, each 90 feet 
long and 45 feet deep. The first stoiy was to be of Soiith Ledge 
granite, the other stories of brick. The corner-stone was laid June 
21, 1843, witli the imposing ceremonies of the Catholic ritual. The 
Reverend Charles Constantine Pise of New York delivered to a large 
audience of the clergy and laity an interesting address. His chief topic 
was the system of education pursued by the Society of Jesus, whose 
members were to have cliarge of the new institution. The central 
building was the first erected, at a cost of $20,000. It was considered 
large enough to accommodate ninety students. The wings were not 
added till afterwards, when the increased number of students made 
more ample space necessary. 

"The schedule of studies adopted for the College of the Holy Cross 
is in obedience to the spirit and letter of the ratio studionim. Seven 
\'ears are usually required to complete the course. During that period 
the students are made familiar with the models of Greek and Latin 
letters. Side by side is a comprehensive course of mathematics rang- 
ing from algebra to calculus. Modern languages receive a fair, and, if 
desired, an equal share of attention. The vernacular, with the accom- 
panying branches of declamation, history and geography, is made an 
object of special study. The seventh year is devoted to the study of 
the natural sciences, and to logic, metaphysics and ethics. The College 
of the Holy Cross has been faithful to this schedule, every student who 
has received a diploma of graduation having passed a satisfactory 
examination in these branches. The exercises of the school were 



The Worcester of 1898. 183 

commenced November 2, 1843. Twenty-five students entered the 
college the first year. 

" Its first president, Reverend Thomas Mulledy, having been ap- 
pointed provincial of the Maryland province, was succeeded October 
9, 1845, by the Reverend James Ryder, late president of Georgetown 
College and provincial of the Maryland province. He held the office 
during the usual period of three years, and was transferred again to 
Georgetown College. His admirable management of the college con- 
tributed largely to its popularity, and the niimber of students rapidly 
increased. He built, in pursuance of the original plan, the east wing, 
and thus added a dining-room, chapel, study-hall and dormitory, each 
90 feet by 45. 

"A class of the students who had entered in 1843 and 1844 h^^*:^ ""w 
advanced to philosophy, and were ready for graduation in 1849. ^t 
was to give public testimony t(.> their proficiency, and to decorate them 
with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, an honor which they had fairly 
won, that the college applied in that year to the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts for the privileges of incr)rporation. The petition for a 
charter was presented in March, 1849, and was acted upon early in 
April. The petitioners were disappointed. Four of the members of 
the Legislative committee were averse to it, and three were in fa\'or of 
granting it. AVhen the subject came before the House of Representa- 
tives for full and final consideration, the decision of the majority of the 
committee was sustained. 

" If the students were disappointed in the hope of receiving their 
diplomas from their alma mater, they were not deprived of the benefits 
of graduation. Georgetown College conferred the degrees on this and 
all succeeding classes tmtil 1865. The officers of the college discovered, 
while irrging the petition, that the institution had made many friends 
among all classes of citizens during the few years of its existence. 
They submitted to the refusal of a small majority with a good grace, 
and trusted to the fairness of their demand, for a different issue, when 
it should be made again. His Excellency (jovernor Alexander H. 
Bullock, at the commencement in 1868, alluding to this rmsuccessful 
attempt to obtain a charter, said he had been deeply impressed by the 
manner in which the friends of the college hid all signs of disappoint- 
ment. They exhibited a patience which, under such circumstances, he 
should hardly have dared to expect from many Christian denominations. 

"On the afternoon of July 14, 1852, eight days before the annual 
exhibition, a fire broke out in the third story — in the room, it was 
supposed, of one of the teachers who had been burning waste examina- 
tion-papers. In a short time the whole of the central building was 
destroyed. The loss seemed at first irreparable. The fruits of nine 



i84 The Worcester of 1898. 

years of careful management were destroyed in a few hours. The 
builders were at work a few months after the fire; by the 3d of 
October, 1853, the college, enlarged and remodeled, was again opened. 

" More than a year had passed since the fire. The students mean- 
while had either been diverted from a classical course or had entered 
other colleges. When Holy Cross was prepared, late in the term, to 
receive her scholars, very few, as was to be expected, returned. It was 
found inexpedient to organize any classes higher than second humani- 
ties, the fifth from graduation. 

" The most distinguished among the gentlemen who manifested an 
interest in the college at this period was His Excellency Governor 
Andrew. He visited and examined the institution during the school 
term of 1862, and presided at the annual commencement held July 7, 
1863. On the latter occasion he spoke in the highest terms of the 
college; the sincerity of his praise was unmistakable. 

"The interesting event of incorporation was not long delayed. The 
petition was presented to the Legislature in the session of 1865. The 
bill was read a third time in the House of Representatives on March 
21, and passed without opposition. The Senate confirmed the action 
of the lower body March 23, and the governor signed the act on March 
24. The 27th of April, 1865, was set apart for the public celebration 
of the event. 

"The college was particularly indebted to His Excellency Governor 
Alexander H. Bullock for many acts of courtesy. As a resident of 
Worcester, he has always taken a neighborly interest in the college. 
While speaker of the House, he offered to present the petition for a 
charter, and presided at three successive exhibitions while governor of 
the State. 

"In material progress, considering the limited fund at the disposal 
of the treasurer, the college makes a creditable showing for the thirty- 
three or, we may more truly say, the twenty-three years of her 
existence. But progress in the higher aims has not been less true 
and constant. The library, now containing 1 1 ,000 volumes, and the 
scientific apparatus, to which valuable additions have been made, show 
that these departments have not been neglected. The presidents have 
uniformly and conscientiously labored to secure for the students the 
highest culture the course affords. They have mildly yet firmly 
insisted upon strict discipline and close attention to study. They 
have spared no pains to teach the students the principles of their 
holy faith, and the moral lessons which it inculcates. When their 
alma mater calls to mind the 1,534 students whom she has sent 
forth, of whom 133 were graduated, she has just reason to think her 
efforts have not been in vain. She can point to a fair proportion who 



The Worcester of 1898. 185 

have proved her careful training by eminent success in higher institu- 
tions of learning — of law, medicine, and divinity — as well as in the 
active pursuits of life." 

The last twenty- two years have added their story of fame and useful- 
ness to the honorable record of Holy Cross. This period has seen the 
college more than double its material and scholastic capacity for the 
education of students, and, as the result and reward of wise administra- 
tion, has witnessed the outgoing of more than double the number of all 
its former gradttates. That these attest the efficiency of her cunHculum 
and training, many episcopal, political and judicial honors since attained 
most honorably proclaim. 

During this period Holy Cross, though but a college in name and in 
scope, has challenged the competition of the best universities of the 
land in the field of athletic sports, always with honor to her name ; and 
in the not distant future it is nearer truth than prophecy to infer that 
she will hold her own against their best in the trials of intercollegiate 
oratory and scholarship. Indeed, there is on record the testimony of 
more than one governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that 
her annual commencements afford unmistakable proofs that in learn- 
ing, in training, and ability to display their attainments, the graduates 
of Holy Cross are second to none in whom the old Bay State loves to 
take a laudable pride. 

The loyaltv and affection for alma mater displayed by the alumni of 
this college are a credit to their heart and head. Their institution is 
worthy of all the honor that belongs to institutions of its class; and 
when they so honor it and so proclaim it, they only give voice and 
meaning to that which is in the hearts of all good citizens, irrespective 
of race or creed. 

HIGHLAND MILITARY ACADEMY. 

The Highland ^lilitary Academy is another of the institutions of 
Worcester that deserves special mention at this time. This school was 
founded in 1856 by Mr. C. B. Metcalf, who was for more than thirty 
years its principal or superintendent. 

In the absence of what may be called the military spirit, as the term 
is generally understood, it is natural that there should be a deirjand for 
schools where military training is emphasized. Such schools are very 
numerous in the middle states, but for many years the Highland Mili- 
tary Academy has been almost without a rival in New England. 

From the beginning, this school has consistently maintained its 
individuality, has been generously attended by pupils from many 



The Worcester of 1898. 



187 




different states, and has been a source 
of pride to the city of Worcester. 
Its instructors are nien who are well 
known in our community, and their 
character and standing as citizens 
have insured to the school a high 
reputation. 

The buildings are located in one of 
the most attractive suburbs, and com- 
mand a beautiful view of the sur- 
rounding country. The equipment 
of the academy is complete with 
armory, gymnasium, laboratory, mu- 
seum, infirmary, cadet quarters, and 
cadet paidor. The officers of the 

JOSEPH A. SHAW. "^ 

academic staff live m the same build- 
ings with the cadets, and the social life of the institution is shared by 
the whole household. The school is conducted under the management 
of Joseph A. Shaw* as head master, and George L. Clark as treasurer 
and business manager. 

This school aims to fit pupils for colleges, universities and technical 
schools, though it gives a generous English training and a reasonably 
complete education to those who do not intend to enter higher institu- 
tions. 

Military drill was introduced in 1858, and is still kept up principally 
as a means of maintaining health, a graceful carriage, and of preserv- 
ing discipline. 

The morals and manners of the students are considered of paramount 
importance. The following is an extract from the last circular issued 
by the school: "Our academv seeks, and will allow, no one in its mem- 
bership who does not. according to the best standards, aspire to be a 
gentleman ; nor will anv unworthv cadet, for mercenary, or for other 
causes, be allowed to stav in school. Every year the roll-call is 
narrowed because some names are kept off it, or stricken from it, 
that will do it no credit. Nor will this school be made a receptacle 
for indifferent youth, 'boys not verv bad, but easily influenced.' 

"Our graduates are found in Harvard, Yale, and in the best scientific 
schools in the countrv. Our instructors are men not only of acknowl- 
edged scholarship, but those who must have attained eminence in their 
profession before employment here. 

" ' Beautiful for situation,' is the constant remark from those who 
have known the school from its beginning, and repeated by every new- 

*See sketch in Biographical Department. 



The Worcester of 1898. 189 

comer. The cadets in attendance are proverbially healthy. The school 
grounds are set on a hill, and the premises during the present season 
have been supplied with modern sanitary appliances. It is always 
designed to make and continue this school to be what it so often has 
been designated in the best sense — a home school." 

WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

The city of Worcester is preeminent for its mechanical skill. For 
half a century or more the products of its industries have been well 
known both at hcmie and abroad. It would be expected that there 
would be found in such a centre some school for training in the 
mechanical arts. For many years Worcester Polytechnic Institute has 
been the worthy representative of industrial Worcester. The institute 
was founded by John Boynton of Templeton in 1865. The Board of 
Trustees has always been made up largely of men who have been 
intimately identified with the development of the city. The names of 
these men are household words in our city, and are honored through- 
out the State and nation. 

This great school, which was founded and which has been nourished 
by these noble men, may be said to represent both the energy and 
intellect of our newest and best civilization. It is distinctly a product 
of Worcester, and was a pioneer among schools of its class. Moreover 
a powerful reflex influence comes to the city through its graduates, 
who annually by the score take places of responsibility in oar great 
work-shops, for which they have been so admirably trained. But the 
school is much more than a local institution. Her graduates are found 
in every state and territory and in almost every growing city in the 
country, for these men are trained to bear a part in the progress which 
we are witnessing, and well have they taken their part. 

In the great mechanical, electrical and civil engineering enterprises 
and the manual and scientific courses of instruction throughout the 
country, graduates of the Worcester Polytechnic school are found 
directing the work of others. All this is high praise. But the quiet 
yet positive influence of these men ought to be well understood by the 
citizens of Worcester. The lines of work undertaken are comparatively 
new, and are closely connected with the unparalleled growth and 
development of our country. It is therefore no accident that Worcester 
has produced such a scht)ol, nor should we be surprised that the men 
trained at such a centre should contribute to the material advancement 
of the nation. 

Of the 753 graduates of the school, 145 were residents of Worcester 
at the time of graduation, and 342 were residents of ^Massachusetts. 



igo The Worcester of 189S. 

Of the 216 students now in attendance, 76 are residents of Worcester. 
Courses in our high schools are formed to prepare students for the 
Polytechnic school, and very many young men now attending our high 
schools are looking forward to this goal which is in plain sight. Thus 
the Polytechnic Institute is intimately correlated with <>ur lives in 
many ways, and while it can in no sense be called a local institution, 
the city receives from it all and greater advantages than would be pos- 
sible if this were true. 

The following statements are copied from an address containing a 
quarter century review by President Homer T. Fuller, delivered June 
21, 1894: 

"So far as I know, the earliest systematic industrial ti-aining in con- 
nection with any school was given at Moscow, Russia, beginning in 
1763. This went on without much change for seventy years. Sweden 
began industrial work in schools about 1795, and the Polytechnic at 
Vienna dates from 1815. Most of the other German technical high 
schools were organized from 1820 to 1870. But France for more than 
forty years, or from 1825 to 1865. led the world in the practical appli- 
cations of science in school instruction to the improvement of arts, 
trades and manufactures. From France came the first engineers 
employed on our American canals and railroads. In 1847 the period 
of establishing scientific departments of colleges began. Sheffield led 
the way in that year. 

"Of all the instructors of the institute, it may truly be said that they 
have devoted themselves mind and soul to their work, and have made 
it their pride and delight." 

It is a source of regret that for lack of room this address of President 
Fuller cannot be printed in full. It outlines the generous gifts made 
by many different citizens. It is a story of sacrifice and denial, patient, 
faithful labor. Several professors have served a term of twentv-five 
years as instructors. Four whose labors have ceased, including the 
first president, are mentioned by the w^riter in terms of feeling gratitude. 

The following, taken from the last annual catalogue, will express the 
most recent view of the work and function of the institution : 

"The institute was founded by John Boynton, Esq., of Templeton, 
in 1865. The new institution was chartered by the Legislature of 
Massachusetts on May 10, 1865, and it was opened for the reception 
of students on May 12, 1868. This was the beginning of its career, 
l)ut without the cooperation of other friends of the school and its 
work, it must have fallen far short of realizing the wishes and expecta- 
tions of its first benefactor. By generously supplementing the original 
gift, however, they have increased the value of its property and various 
endowment funds until it is now many times what it was in the beti'in- 



The Worcester of 1898. 191 

nintf. This growth in material wealth has been accompanied by a 
great improvement and enlargement of its facilities for instruction, 
and by the extension of its advantages to a much larger constituency. 
One of the very first schools of its class in the countiy, it has not been 
left behind in the tremendous progress that has taken place during 
the past quarter of a century in all matters pertaining to higher pro- 
fessional and technical education. In some respects it has been a 
recognized leader, its methods have been extensively copied, and its 
graduates have found ready employment in more recent foundations 
of a similar character. Within a few years its courses of study have 
been enlarged and extended, its facilities for instruction more than 
doubled, and it is confidently believed that its courses are not inferior 
to those of any other engineering school, considered either as a means 
of intellectual discipline or for the production of the technical 
expert. 

"The plan of organization of the institute, while similar in many 
respects to that of other schools of technology in this country and in 
Europe, differs from that of many of them in some important partic- 
ulars. The scope of its work is more comprehensive than in a few 
schools restricted to a single branch of engineering, and more limited 
than in others which attempt to include nearly every department of 
applied science. 

"The underlying principle which controls the work of this institute, 
and which has shaped its course from the beginning, is that courses 
of study and laboratory exercises may be arranged which will furnish 
all the intellectual discipline and training which were of real worth in 
the so-called 'liberal education,' and at the same time equip the young 
man with a good knowledge of the sciences especially relating to his 
chosen profession, together with a considerable amount of actual prac- 
tice in that profession. 

"The importance attached to laboratory methods, in connection with 
the various courses of the institute, is measured by the several large 
and perfectly arranged and equipped buildings, which are devoted, for 
the most part, to this work. These include the vSalisbury Laboratories 
of ph3^sics, chemistry and electrical engineering; the extensive Wash- 
burn vShops; the new engineering laboratory, in which ample provision 
is made for both civil and mechanical engineering; the power 
laboratorv ; and a most important experiniental hydraulic plant, on a 
scale hitherto unapproached by any institution of learning in this 
coimtry. 

"The Worcester Polvtechnic Institute was the first institution in the 
countr}' to establish workshops as an adjunct to the training of the 
mechanical engineer." 



192 The Worcester of 1898. 

THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 

The Worcester Normal School was opened on September 15, 
1874. The institution has become well known in New England, 
and its principal has for man)- years, through his writings on some 
phases of child-study, reached an audience scattered over the entire 
country. 

While this school is one of a group of nine State institutions, it 
performs an invaluable office in promoting the interests of the Worces- 
ter schools, and it is peculiarly endeared to the Worcester people. Of 
its 724 graduates, 322 are at the present time teaching in the schools 
of Worcester. 

The Worcester Normal School requires that every pupil who seeks 
for admission shall be a graduate of soine high school, or shall have 
had a training that may fairly be regarded as an equivalent. As a 
result of this high standard, something like a professional spirit has 
taken the place of the indifference which had formerly prevailed in the 
selection of teachers. Not only have the persons who make up the 
profession thus become a select company, but the work they have 
undertaken has assumed the form of a fine art. 

The science of teaching has become the most popular and the most 
generally studied at post-graduate universities, both in this country and 
in Europe. The questions concerned have to do with the social, 
physical and intellectual side of the child. The study of the individual 
has come to the front. This is true not only in the school, but in the 
community. This idea has affected all theories of human development. 

The Worcester Normal School has from the first deliberately ignored 
"cut-and-dried" methods, and has advocated the theory that the teacher 
should as far as possible deal with each child as an individual. As a 
result, the graduates of the school, and, it may be added, the teachers 
of the Worcester schools, bear the mark of the original mind that has 
so faithfully pursued a difficult ideal. 

Every person who has ever visited the school has been impressed 
with the fresh and free atmosphere that pervades the institution, and 
has gone away with some new inspiration. In certain lines of science, 
in the art of reading, in self-command, and in the modest consciousness 
of strength, the graduates of this school are not surpassed by the grad- 
uates of any normal school in the country. 

An apprentice system has been worked out by the principal on 
entirely original lines, that have made its teachers infinitely superior 
in the practice of their art, to those coming from many of the other 
normal schools of the State, where the teaching art has, until recently, 
been almost wl'H)lly ignored. 



The Worcester of li 



193 



The following is quoted from the printed circular of the school : 

•• The school-house is a large, three-story, massive structure, built of 
stone taken from the hill upon which it stands. Its position gives an 
extensive view of Worcester and its surroundings. From the front 
steps one looks westward down through clumps of trees over the city- 
lying spread within an inner circle of rolling country. The site, more- 
over, has all the advantages that light and air can give it. 

"A new building of moderate size, but of substantial construction 
and architectural dignity and beauty, has been erected and fully 
equipped for use as a gymnasium. The students are instructed by 




jTate normal school. 



classes, as in any other subject, under strict oversight, and with con- 
stant reference to the work of teaching. 

"The design of the Normal School is strictly professional; that is, 
to prepare in the best possible manner the pupils for the work of 
organizing, governing and teaching the public schools of the Common- 
wealth. It is made a special aim to seize every opportunity to give 
the pupils the benefit of whatever tends to fit them for the work of 
teaching. The spirit of this endeavor pervades the whole school. 
The knowledge demanded is in great part knowledge of the material 
to be operated on and of the conditions and limitations tmder which 
the work must be carried on. 

"The government of the school is not a government of rules, not 
even of laws. The school is not without law, but the pupils are led 



The Worcester of 1898. 195 

by suggestion, encouragement and admonition to become a law unto 
themselves. 

" Platform exercise has the somewhat comprehensive aim of helping 
pupils to command their faculties and use their mother wit amid the 
interruptions and distractions of the school-room. In reply to the 
question, 'What school exercise was most profitable to vou?' graduates 
are almost certain to name this, or, ■ The stud}- of children.' " 

The pirpils of the Normal School serve in the schools of the city 
for a half-year, imder the oversight and direction of the Normal School 
teachers and the teachers in charge of rooms. It is pleasant to record 
that this joint management that has in so many other cities caused 
discord, has here given satisfaction to the School Committee of the city 
and, it is believed, to the State authorities. 

It should be added that the study of children is further made po.ssi- 
ble by the presence of a kindergarten and lirst grade school located in 
the Normal School building. The study of life and growing things 
is made easy by the fact that the building is located on one of the 
beautiful elevations that grace our city on every side. Altogether, this 
institution is the one that, perhaps, contributes most directly and most 
powerfully to the interests of the public and private weal of our citv. 

CLARK UNIVERSITY. 

\Vorcester enjoys the distinction of being the seat of the onlv uni- 
versity in America which confines its work strictly to post-graduate 
courses. While Clark University is almost the }-oungest institution 
of its class, it has at once assumed a position of leadership. Its grad- 
uates immediately become professors in the leading universities east 
and west. The work done by its students and faculty is almost wholly 
in the line of original research. As a result the university publishes a 
list of magazines, which are extensively read and reviewed at home 
and abroad. Some of these are reprinted in other languages, and 
the names and sayings of the professors of Clark University are very 
frequently found in the pages of foreign scientific and educational 
magazines. 

No publications or investigations have excited so much interest 
in educational circles during the present century as those that have 
originated with Clark University and its distinguished president. 

Child-study and Clark University have become firmly related in the 
minds of the reading public. Clark University Summer School has 
achieved a distinction all its own. This school calls together the most 
distinguished educators from all over the land, and the enthusiasm 
generated is quite tmlike anything hitherto seen at such gatherings. 



196 The Worcester of 1898. 

We share the blessings that come from the wise counsels of the 
learned president, G. Stanley Hall, and the faculty. Our educational 
institutions are all directly benefited by the incisive clearness and 
practical wisdom of the theories here set forth. The interests of our 
schools are especially promoted by the corrective force of this new 
education in its best form. 

May this institution be cherished by our citv and strengthened by 
all necessary material support. 

Clark University is to us a crown of glory and a daily source of 
blessing in every department of our activity. It is an attractive force 
that brings to and holds fast the very best things. 

The following extract from the inaugural address of President 
G. .Stanley Hall will more clearly define the purposes of this institu- 
tion : 

When called upon to consider the invitation with which the trustees of 
this university honored me two and a half years ago, I was in an institution 
which, in the less than fifteen years of its existence, had done a work in 
stimulating other institutions, and in advancing the highest standards, 
which was, as I think all cheerfully admit, beyond comparison in the recent 
history of higher education in this country. After studying Worcester and 
the New England situation, I saw the opportunity here to be so great for a 
further and at least no less epoch-making step that I felt that an assured 
career, and even an important department, new in this country and full of 
fascinations, and in the most critical stage of its development, ought not to 
weigh against it 

If the State is to insure social order within and be strong without, 
democracy must find a new principle of life in universities, and education 
must become the great problem of statesmanship 

The new movement is already upon us in this country, and many signif- 
icant facts show that the resultant interest and opportunity here have never 
been so great. All such facts and tendencies, and many more, opened a 
clear and broad field for us at Worcester, and unmistakably defined our 
work as follows: 

1. It must be of the highest and most advanced grade, with special 
prominence given to original research. This our country chiefly lacks and 
needs for both its material and educational welfare. This is in the current 
of all the best tendencies in the best lands, and is the ideal to-day of, I 
believe, about every scientific man who is able and in earnest, throughout 
the world. For this our location offers the rarest opportunities and induce- 
ments yet possible in this country. 

2. We must not attempt at once to cover the entire field of human 
knowledge, but must elect a group of related departments of fundamental 
importance, and concentrate all our care to make these the best possible. 
Each science has become so vast and manifold that it is impossible to culti- 
vate the frontier of all at a single university 



The Worcester of 1898. 197 

3. For our group we chose at first five fundamental and related 
sciences. Work in science can be quickest organized. Great libraries 
and museums, and everything else that only age can bring, can be dis- 
pensed with at first, and a complete outfit of the best apparatus and of all 
needed books can be gathered in a short time. Again, this is a practical 
country, and its industries are sure to depend more and more on the 
progress of science 

4. We must seek the most talented and best trained 3'oung men. We 
must not exploit them for the glory of the institution, work them in a 
machine, nor retard their advancement, but we must give them every 
needed opportunity and incentive 

As from hundreds of applicants we have admitted but a very few of the 
best because many would frustrate our plans, so from the many subjects 
found in most large universities, we selected five to receive all our care. 

We are not a "graduate department" in which most so-called graduate 
students attend, and most professors conduct undergraduate work; we are 
not an institution like the Smithsonian, which does no teaching; we are 
not an academy of sciences: but we have features of all these, and many 
more. The work is the most laborious and the most expensive 

We are thus a school for professors, where leisure, method and 
incentive train select men to higher and more productive efficiency than 
before 

For those students whom we receive we should do everything possible 
for instructors to do. They should be personally aided, guided to the best 
literature, and advanced by every method that pedagogic skill and sympathy 
can devise. They should feel all the enthusiasm, understand all the inter- 
ests and all the methods of the instructor. He should confidentially share 
with them all his hopes and plans for research 

The most important part of our work is research, and we wish soon to 
be ready to be chiefly judged by the value of our contributions to the sum 
of human knowledge 

In this new country we need new men, new measures, and occasionally 
new universities; and we, like England, have in later years experienced 
their amazing good 

Never were educational opinions so plastic and formative, or all minds 
so receptive, or so bent on better things in higher education as now. . . . 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 

Worcester maintains a number of private schools of high grade. 
Prominent among these are the Dalzell School for Boys and School for 
Girls, Miss Kimball's Home School, Miss Fitch's School, Miss Lewis- 
son's School. 

In this connection the three commercial colleges of Hinman. Becker 
and Childs should be mentioned. 




\.v 






ii 




PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 

Bv Samuel Swett Green, A. M.* 

|()RCESTER has reason to feel proud of her public libraries. 
They are large, and generously and wisely administered. There 
are two which contain more than 100,000 volumes each, one having 
1 17,000 and the other 105,000. Several of the smaller libraries are very 
valuable. 

In the libraries described or mentioned in the following pages, there 
are more than 371,000 volumes; 270,000 of these can be used freely by 
everv resident, and the larger portion of the remaining volumes are 
readily accessible. 

FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

The Free Public Library was established by the City Government 
December 23, 1859. That is to say, Worcester had been a city nearly 
twelve years before it had a library whose privileges could be enjoyed 
by residents without cost. The Free Public Library consisted in the 
beginning of the library of Doctor John Green, given to the city to be 
the nucleus of a reference library, and of the collection of books o\yned 
by the Worcester Lyceum and Library Associati()n and given to the 
city at the same time that Doctor Green gave his books. 

Most of the books in the latter collection became the nucleus of the 
circulating department of the Free Public Library. The library of 
Doctor Green was one which he had been forming for many years 
with the purpose of giving it to the city. 

That of the Worcester Lyceum, and Library Association consisted of 
the books which had belonged to the Young Men's Library Association, 
the Young Men's Rhetorical Society and the old Worcester Lyceum. 

The library given by Doctor Green numbered about 7,000 volumes, 
which had cost him not less than $10,000; the library of the Worcester 
Lyceum and Library Association contained 4,500 volumes. 

The Free Public Library- was opened to the public April 30, 1 860, in 
the rooms in the Worcester Bank block, which had been occupied by 
the two libraries composing it. 



* See sketch in Biographical Department. 



200 The Worcester of 1898. 

In the fourth section of the original ordinance, by which Doctor 
Green was niade an honorary director of the library for life, that 
gentleman is justly called its principal founder. 

He started the movement for the foundation of the library, gave to 
the city the large collection of books mentioned above, by his deed of 
gift secured liberal expenditures on the part of the city, and made other 
conditions which, without hampering the administration of the gift, 
have been of great benefit. In 1865 reading-rooms were established in 
connection with the library. A fund for their endowment was raised 
by subscription, mainly through the efforts of Honorable George 
Frisbie Hoar. The subscription amounted to $10,000 or $11,000, 
and was headed by the late Mr. .Stephen vSalisbury with a gift of 
$4,000. Mr. Hoar, Doctor Green and forty other persons gave each 
$100; twenty-five persons, $50 each; thirty-eight, $25 apiece, and other 
givers smaller sums. The Worcester Lyceum and Library Association 
added to its gift of books $300 as a subscription towards this reading- 
room fund. The fund amounted at the close of the last library year, 
November 30, 1897, to $10,856.44. 

The income of the fund and an annual appropriation by the City 
Government pay for the periodicals and papers taken in the reading- 
room. 

Doctor Green died in the autumn of 1865. Between the date of his 
deed of gift and his death he gave to the library 4,968 volumes in addi- 
tion to the 7,000 volumes contributed at the start. 

By his last will, Doctor Green left $30,000 to the city primarily for 
the endowment of his department of the library. By provisions of the 
will, one-quarter of the income is for the present to be added to the 
principal every year, and the remaining three-quarters, after deducting 
any losses that may have been met in the principal, are to be spent for 
books to be added to the Green Library, and in repairing and rebinding 
books in that department of the Free Public Library. The investment 
and management of the Green Library fund, by the terms of the will, 
are in the hands of the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors. 
That committee has to be chosen by ballot. The certificates of prop- 
erty are in the custody of the city treasurer. That officer also collects 
interest and dividends. 

Provisions for the safe investment of the fund are made in the will. 
Five httndred and fifty dollars and eighty-five cents, the proceeds of a 
trust instituted by the will of Doctor Green, has been received by the 
city and added to the Green Library fund. 

Thirty shares of the stock of the Central National Bank, Worcester, 
have, under the provisions of another trust made in the same will, been 
passed over to the city to form the beginning of a librarian fund. 



The Worcester of 1898. 201 

Under the provisions of a third trust in Doctor Green's will, there 
will come to the city, after the death of an aged beneficiary, eighteen 
shares of bank stock and $210 deposited in the Worcester County Insti- 
tution for Savings (if the investments remain unchanged), to be added 
to the Green Library fund. 

That fund amounted, November 30,1897, to $48,001.01. The libra- 
rian fund amounted, at the same date, to $4,344.35. The bank stock in 
both of these funds is held at par, although its market value is much 
higher. 

The main dependence of the Free Public Library for support is 
upon an annual appropriation made by the City Council, chiefly from 
money raised by taxation. The sum appropriated the first year of the 
existence of the library was $4,000. The library had to spend, besides 
that amount, $88.26 received for fines and collected in other ways. 

Besides these sources of revenue, the library now has the income of 
the Green Library and reading-room funds, and dog license money. 

The last-named item of income was first received in 1870, when it 
amounted to $1,931.05. It has been received every year since, and 
amounted last year to $5,576.17. The current year (1897-8) it amounts 
to $5,919.11. The cit}' appropriation for the last year was $26,600. 
This year it is $27,500. Last year the income from the Green Library 
fund, applicable to the purchase of books, was $1,1 13.22, and that from 
the reading-room fund, $461.20. There was also received from fines, 
the sale of catalogues and other sources, $891.47. That is to say, the 
total income of the Free Public Librar\- for the year 1896-7 was 
$34,642.06. Of that amount, $13,016.83 was spent for books and 
periodicals (exclusive of binding). 

The growth in the size and use of the library has been steady 
and large. As stated above, the library had at its fotmdation 11,500 
volumes in its two departments, the Green or reference library and the 
circulating library. A third department, known as the intermediate 
department, has since been established. At the date of the last 
annual report (December i, 1897), the number of books in the library 
was 114,325, divided as follows among the three departments: Green 
Library, 24,737; intermediate department, 36,274; circulating depart- 
ment, 53,314. The library to-dav (May 22, 1898) probably contains 
1 17,000 volumes. 

The use of the library during the last year was 315,557 volumes. 
This number does not include, of course, the immense use of maga- 
zines, reviews and papers in the three reading-rooms. 

The home use of the library for the last year was 210,045 volumes. 
During the eight months covered by the first report of the Free Public 
Library, 31,454 volumes were given out for home use. 




SAMUEL S. GREEN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 203 

The number of volumes added to the library the last year was 5,836. 
Cards can be had for taking books home from the circulating depart- 
ment by residents of Worcester who have reached the age of fifteen 
years, and by younger persons in the discretion of the librarian. 
Books can be taken home from the intermediate department under 
certain restrictions. In accordance with a provision in the deed of 
gift, reiterated in the will of Doctor Green, books belonging to the 
Green Librarv must be used within the library building. Every facility 
is offered for their use under this condition. 

It appears from the last printed report of the Free Public Library 
that 493 papers and other periodicals were taken by the library in the 
year 1896-7. 

The Free Piiblic Library was the first of the larger free public 
libraries in New England to open its doors to visitors on.vSunday. On 
that day the reading-rooms and the library for purposes of reference 
are open, as stated below, from 2 to 9 o'clock p. M. This experiment 
began in 1872. 

Last year the reading-rooms were used by 8,910 persons on Sundaj^ 
On Thanksgiving day, 1889, the reading-rooms and library for purposes 
of reference were opened to the public, holidays during the same hours 
as on secular days generally. 

It will thus be seen that the library is now open every day in the 
year. 

The first building of its own occupied by the library was put up in 
accordance with an agreement with Doctor Green, and opened to the 
public September 4, 1861. It cost about $30,000, inclusive of the lot 
of land on which it stands. 

The size and use of the library increased so much that a new build- 
ing had to be erected. A lot adjoining that of the older building was 
bought, and a new building, which is used in connection with the 
older, was put upon it. The new building was opened April i, 1891. 
Its cost, inclusive of land and furniture, was about $143,000. 

This building has among other rooms a lecture hall, art galleries, 
study rooms, and a closet for the development of photographs. 

The librarians of the Free Public Library have been Zephaniah 
Baker, February 17, i860 — January 14, 1871 ; Samuel Swett Green, 
January 15, 1871. Miss Lucy A. Young and Miss Jessie E. Tyler are 
the heads, under the librarian of the reference and circulating depart- 
ments, respectively, and have held these positions for many years. 
The former presidents of the Board of Directors have been Honorable 
Alexander H. Bullock, Honorable William W. Rice, Honorable Stephen 
Salisbury, Honorable George F. Hoar, Honorable Thomas L. Nelson, 
Honorable Peter C. Bacon, J. Evarts Greene, Esquire, Reverend Doctor 



204 The Worcester of 1898. 

William R. Huntington, Honorable Francis H. Dewey, Honorable 
Francis A. Gaskill, Mr. E. Harlow Russell, A. George Bullock, Esquire, 
Honorable Edwin T. Marble. Burton W. Potter, Esquire, Mr. Waldo 
Lincoln, Mr. Edward I. Comins and Reverend Doctor Almon Gun- 
nison. Doctor Gunnison was chosen president for the year beginning 
January i, 1895, and has remained president since that date. 

The present Board of Directors is as follows: Francis A. Harrington, 
Almon Gunnison, Edmund L. Parker, John O. Marble, G. Stanley Hall, 
Webster Thayer, Thomas C. Mendenhall, Edward J. Russell, Lyman 
A. Ely, Francis P. McKeon, Charles M. Thayer, John E. Lynch. 

The Free Public Library has eight delivery stations. They were 
opened May 14, 1898, and are situated at New Worcester, South 
Worcester, Quinsigamond, Grafton square. Lake View, Belmont street, 
Greendale and Tatnuck. 

The Free Public Library has become one of the large libraries of 
the country, and is regarded as an excellent example of a library 
conducted as a great educational institution for the people. 

During the last twenty-seven years it has built up an immense 
popular use of its books for purposes of reference, and has done this 
mainly by letting it be known that it regarded itself as a bureau of 
information, and by establishing sympathetic and pleasant relations 
with inquirers and students. 

This library was a pioneer in bringing about close relations between 
libraries and schools, and its work in this direction has inspired emula- 
tion everywhere throughout the United States. A wagon belonging 
to the School Department visits regularly every one of the fifty school- 
houses belonging to the city, to carry books from the library, and bring 
back such volumes as are ready to be returned. 

During the school year covered by the last report of the Free Public 
Library, 1,782 volumes belonging to the library were on the average 
in use by teachers and in school-rooms and homes under the super- 
vision of teachers, by scholars every day that the schools were open. 

There is a large use here of industrial books taken from the library. 
This library was also a pioneer in making great use of photographs 
and other kinds of pictures in supplementing instruction given by 
books. 

LIBRARY OF THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 

The American Antiquarian Society was incorporated October 24, 
18 1 2. The history of the society is narrated in another portion of this 
work. Here the library only is under consideration. That as well as 
the society was founded by Isaiah Thomas, who, in February, 18 13, 



The Worcester of 1898. 205 

gave to the society a private library, which he had brought together 
while engaged in the favoring occupations of author, editor and pub- 
lisher. This library had, not long before, been described as " a valu- 
able collection of books obtained with great labor and expense, the 
value of which may be fairly estimated at about $5,000." 

Books, manuscripts and newspapers of the kind which made up 
Doctor Thomas's library have increased immensely in market value 
since the date of his gift. 

In October, 18 19, it was stated that there were nearly 6,000 volumes 
in the librarv of the Antiquarian Societv. It is interesting to remem- 
ber that ^Ir. Thomas was unwilling to have his library placed in a 
large city, because, in such a place, it would be endangered by the 
presence of large fires, and, in the existing excitement of war, to call 
to mind the fact that he feared that his books, if deposited in a city 
on the seaboard, would be subjected in time of war to more peril there 
from the ravages of enemies than in an interior town. 

At his death in 1831, Mr. Thomas bequeathed books and other 
materials of history to the Antiquarian Society. Mr. Edmund M. 
Barton, the present librarian, in accordance with a calculation recently 
made by him, believes that there are now about 105,000 volumes in 
the library of the society. 

- The library is very valuable. It contains a large and exceedingly 
interesting collection of early volumes of some of the oldest news- 
papers of the land, and also possesses many rare works which were 
printed in this country in the days of its infancy, and a number of 
valuable manuscripts. 

The feature which distinguishes the library best from other institu- 
tions is the unique collection of memorials of the Mather family. 

The library has about 4,000 volumes of newspapers. Among these 
are sixteen of the Boston Nczvs Letter, first issued in 1704, the first 
established newspaper on this continent. 

The oldest existing newspaper in Massachusetts is the Jlassac/insctts 
Spy, at present the weekly issue of the Worcester Daily Spy. The first 
number was issued in Boston July 17, 1770; the first number printed 
in Worcester bears the date of Mav 3, 1775. The file of this paper 
belonging to the Antiquarian Society is nearly complete. 

There is in the librarv of tlie societv a large portion of the books 
printed in the colonies and provinces which now form the older por- 
tions of the United States before the year 1700. For example, it 
contains a copy of the Bay Psalm Book, which was issued from the 
press in Cambridge in 1640, and is the first volume printed in British 
America. It possesses a copy of the first edition of Eliot's Indian 
Bible, the printing of which was finished at Cambridge in 1663, and 



2o6 The Worcester of 1898. 

also lias a handsome and beautifully bound cojiy of the second edition 
of that Bible, the printing of which ended in 1685, as well as several 
rare tracts in the Indian language prevalent in this vicinity. In the 
large collection of Bibles in the library is a fine copy of the folio Bible 
printed by Isaiah Thomas, at Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1791. This 
was the first folio Bible in the English language ever published in 
America. Mr. Thomas had a great printing and publishing establish- 
ment in this town, and such was the excellence of the work which 
came from his presses that he won for himself the name of the 
American Baskerville. 

Among the manuscripts in the library are forty or fifty orderly-books 
and volumes containing records similar to those in books of that kind. 
The entries in these books bear various dates between the years 1758 
and 18 1 2. The matter in them relating to the period of the Revolution 
is of especial interest. The library also possesses a large collection of 
muster-rolls, army-orders and other military papers, with dates extend- 
ing from 1745 to 1787. 

vSome of the more elegant manuscripts in the library are an illumi- 
nated missal on vellum, written perhaps as early as 1304; a Persian tale 
or romance, which has gilt borders and is illustrated by highly-colored 
pictures, and a folio copy of the Koran, which is adorned by illuminated 
borders. 

Two large gifts of books have been made to the library in compara- 
tively recent years — one in 1879 by the heirs of the late George Brinley 
of Hartford, the other under the provisions of the will of the late 
Joseph J. Cooke of Providence. At an early period in its history, it 
was the recipient of a vahiable bequest of books and manuscripts from 
Reverend Doctor William Bentley of Salem (1759-1819). 

Mr. William Bentley Fowle, a nephew of Doctor Bentley, bequeathed 
to the Anticjuarian Society (ither portions of the library and literary 
remains of his uncle. 

Among the persons who have given money, the income of which is 
used for the purchase of books, are Isaac Davis, Benjamin F. Thomas, 
Samuel F. Haven, Francis H. Dewey and Edward L. Davis. The 
library is, however, mainly dependent for growth upon gifts, sales 
of duplicates, and exchanges. vStill its yearly additions are very large, 
numbering many thousands of books, pamphlets and volumes of news- 
papers. 

The library was much used by the late George Bancroft in preparing 
the earlier volumes of his " Historj' of the United States," and was 
occasionally consulted by him afterwards. Mr. McMaster has availed 
himself largely, as the late Mr. Justin Winsor availed himself to a cer- 
tain extent, of its privileges, the former in getting ready volumes of his 



The Worcester of 1898. 207 

history for publication, and the latter in hunting up illustrations for his 
" Narrative and Critical History of America." It is constantly used 
bv members of the Antiquarian .Society and other persons in making 
historical investigations, and for other purposes. 

As stated before, the library contains a very valuable collection of 
memorials of the life and work of the Mather family. It possesses, for 
example, a large number of important manuscripts in the handwriting 
of members of that family of distinguished early New England divines. 
Thus from the pen of Richard Mather, who came to America in 1635, 
it has the original draft of the celebrated Cambridge Platform, the text 
of the platform which was finallv adopted and printed in 1648, and 
other writtings which relate to the earlv ecclesiastical historj- of the 
Massachusetts Colony. Of manuscripts written by Increase Mather, 
who will be remembered as having been president of Harvard College, 
it owns his autobiography, written for his children; his journal, kept in 
sixteen interleaved almanacs, of dates varving from 1660 to 1721, and 
many sermons, essays and letters. The library has a large number of 
manuscripts which were written by Cotton Mather, the son of Increase, 
and grandson of Richard Mather. Among them are "The Observa- 
tions and Reflections of the Reverend Doctor Cotton Mather Respect- 
ing Witchcraft," 1692; "A Brand Plucked Out of the Burning," which 
is an account of Mercy Short, and is supposed to have never been 
printed, although another "Brand Pluckt Out," etc., has been printed; 
■•Triparadisus," a work on a theological subject; "The Angel of 
Bethesda," an essav on the common maladies of mankind; this is 
a thick quarto volume which treats of diseases and their remedies, and 
c(_)ntains, under the names of diseases, religious sentiments and specifi- 
cations of simple and easv remedies ; valuable diaries, covering different 
years between 1692 and 171 7; many letters written by Cotton Mather 
and received by him; ecclesiastical manuscripts; notes of sermons and 
volumes containing quotations. There are in the library manuscripts 
of other members of the Mather family besides those, some of whose 
writings have just been spoken of. The library possesses a ver\' fine 
collection of the printed works of the Mathers. It has several hundred 
volumes and pamphlets published by them. Many tracts, and among 
them some of the rarest, written by seven different members of the 
family, were secured at the sales of Mr. Brinley's collection of books. 
Another interesting memorial of the Mather family in the library of 
the Antiquarian Society is the greater portion of the working library 
of the celebrated members of that family. Their library (writes Mr. 
C. C. Baldwin) was distributed at their decease, with other portions of 
their property, among their heirs. The bulk of it, however, was secured 
by Isaiah Thomas and Mrs. Hannah Mather Crocker, and presented to 



2o8 The Worcester of 1898. 

the Antiquarian Society by them in 1814. The society thus came into 
possession of about 900 volumes which had belonged to Increase and 
Cotton Mather; and some other books, containing their autographs and 
those of other members of the family, have in later years been given to 
it or bought by it. For example, a number of books containing, in 
their own handwriting, the names of Richard, Increase, Samuel and 
Cotton Mather, were purchased by the society at the sale of the Brinley 
library. 

Hanging on the walls of the library of the Antiquarian Society are 
the following portraits: Richard Mather (1596-1669), painted from life; 
Samuel Mather (1626-1671); Increase Mather (1639-1723), painted from 
life; Cotton Mather (1663-1728), painted by Pelham; Samuel Mather 
(1706-1785), painted from life. These portraits were given to the 
society by Mrs. Hannah Mather Crocker of Boston. 

There is an interesting collection of historical relics in the rooms of 
the library. Many of these were presented by Isaiah Thomas and other 
early members of the society, or procured by its agents in the first years 
of its existence. 

Mr. Stephen vSalisbury has deposited there many relics and photo- 
graphs illustrative of the antiquities and present life of Yucatan. 
Through his liberality, several years ago there was placed in one of 
the rooms of the library a beautiful cast of the portal of a ruined 
building at Labna, made from moulds prepared by Mr. Edward H. 
Thompson, our townsman, the United vStates consul at Merida. 

The accommodations for persons wishing to make investigations in 
the library are excellent, and all persons wishing to iise it are heartily 
welcomed and helped to do so. The rooms are adorned by numerous 
works of art. Among these are portraits of many men who have been 
prominent residents of New England in former days and more recent 
times. 

The society has several interesting memorials of the Winthrop 
family, members of which have always had a conspicuous place in 
the annals of New England. Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Lindall 
Winthrop was the second president of the Antiquarian Society, and 
held the position for ten years. 

The librarians of the Antiquarian Society have been Samuel Jennison 
(1814-25), William Lincoln (1825-27), Christopher Columbus Baldwin 
(1827-30 and 1831-35), Samuel M. Burnside (i 830-31), Maturin Lewis 
Fisher (1835-38), Samuel Foster Haven (1838-March 31, 1881; librarian 
emeritus April i, 1881, until his death, September 5, 1881), and Edmund 
M. Barton (1883). 

When Mr. Thomas gave his private library to the Antiquarian 
Societv in the spring of 1813, he was requested to retain it in his 



The Worcester of 1898. 209. 

possession until a suitable place could be prepared for its reception. 
Early in the year 18 19 Mr. Thomas offered to put up a building at his 
own expense for the accommodation of the society and its library, and 
in August of that year a committee was appointed, at his request, to- 
superintend its erection. The work was attended to at once, and the 
central portion of the old Antiquarian hall on Summer street was dedi- 
cated to the uses of the society August 24, 1820. The two wings were 
added to the main structure in 1832. The building, however, a portion 
of which, at least, still stands, although now (May 24, 1898) used for 
private purposes, proved too small to house the growing library, and 
was also found to be damp. A new hall was therefore built on the site 
now occuped, after a time. This was completed in 1853. But the 
rapidly increasing collection of books demanded still ampler accommo- 
dations, and an addition to the present building was determined upon. 
That was finished in 1877. In putting up the existing building and 
adding to it, the society was assisted by very generous contributions of 
money from the late Stephen Salisbury, who was its president for thirty 
years. 

The present librarian, as before stated, is Edmund Mills Barton. 
He had been assistant librarian for seventeen years before he was 
appointed librarian. Reuben Colton was assistant librarian from 
April, 1878, to February i, 1889. At the latter date he resigned the 
position for the purpose of going into business. Miss Mary Robinson 
became connected with the library as cataloguer in the autumn of 
1 88 1. February i, 1889, she was promoted to the position of assistant 
to the librarian. 

A catalogue of the books in the library (pp. 571 ) was printed in 1837 
by Henry J. Rowland. A card catalogue is now in use. The society 
has also in its possession a manuscript catalogue of the books pre- 
sented to it by Isaiah Thomas. The library is kept open from 9 o'clock 
A. M. to 5 p. M. evei-y secular day, excepting vSaturday, when it is closed 
at I p. M. 

LIBRARIES OF OTHER SOCIETIES AND INSTITUTIONS. 

Worcester District Medical Society. 

The Worcester District Medical Society was founded in 1804, but 
does not seem to have collected many books for a considerable num- 
ber of years. Doctor Thomas H. Gage, in an address to the society 
delivered in 1862, states that "the first movement of which any fruit 
now remains which may indeed be considered the beginning of the 
library, was the appointment of Doctors Oliver Fiske and John Green, 



The Worcester of 1898. 211 

in 18 1 3, to obtain subscriptions and solicit books from profession and 
from laitv to found a medical library." The junior member of the com- 
mittee, -who had been in practice four years 'when appointed to sei-\-e 
in that position, afterwards became the founder of the Free Public 
Library. Doctor Gage remarks that the committee met with success 
in its eftorts. That could not have been great, howevei". Doctor 
Leonard Wheeler states that the librarian seems to have been "merely 
a personified hope of books until 1822." 

The first recorded enumeration of books does not appear until 1836, 
when the number of books in the library was stated to be 1 28. 

In 1843 Doctor Joseph Sargent reported that the library contained 
over 200 volumes, and that he found it in a room over Mr. Harris's 
bookstore, where it was little used. 

A veiy important event in the history of the library was now 
impending. In 1845 a bequest of $6,000 was made to the society by 
Daniel "Waldo, the income of which was to be used in bu\-ing books 
for the librarv. In 1851 Doctor Charles W. Wilder of Leominster left 
S500, by will, to the society. The income of that bequest, and of 
another of §1,000 made bv the late Harrison Bliss of Worcester in 
1882, for librarv purposes, as well as that of a small investment known 
as the available reserve fund, is spent for the benefit of the library. 
The amount which the Librarv Cinnmittee has at its disposal annually 
is about §500. As the societv has no rent to pay for its rooms, and 
the other expenses of the library are very small, S400 can be spent in 
buying books. 

The librarv occupies rooms in the building of the Free Public 
Library. Books mav be taken from it for home use by members of 
the Worcester District ^ledical vSocietv, and by other members of the 
Massachusetts Medical Society resident in Worcester county. Its 
books may be used for purposes of reference within the building of 
the Free Public Librarv by all persons who are entitled to use the 
reference books of that institution, subject to the discretion, however, 
of the librarian of the Free Public Library. 

Recently the Aledical Society has voted to permit users of the Free 
Public Librarv to take home books from its collection in such cases 
as the librarian of the Free Public Library considers it wise to accord 
this permission. 

The ]\Iedical Librarv is provided with a caixl catalogue, which is 
kept written up to date. Within the past year an index has been 
prepared embracing the titles of the medical periodical literature in 
Worcester, which is readily available, namely, such as is contained in 
the libraries of the Medical Society, the Free Public Library, Clark 
L^niversity and the Worcester Lunatic Hospital, and such as belongs 



212 The Worcester of 1898. 

to indivicUial physicians, but is not to be found in the libraries 
mentioned. 

There are 7,415 books and 668 pamphlets in the Medical Library 
to-day. This library is an excellent working collection of books pub- 
lished in the English language, and has undoubtedly done much to 
raise the standard of medical practice in Worcester and its vicinity. 
The present librarian is Doctor A. C. Getchell. The library is pros- 
perous, and well managed. 

Worcester County Mechanics Association. 

This library was opened early in 1843. About four years later, April 
13, 1847, it was reported to contain 670 volumes. At the present time 
it consists of 13,000 volumes. 

The library has been selected with the purposes of supplying popular 
needs and a variety of tastes; it is general and scientific rather than 
technical in character. 

A reading-room was established in 1864, which is supplied with 
many reviews, magazines, scientific and other papers. The library 
and reading-room can be used by members of the Mechanics Asso- 
ciation and their families only. Both are extensively used. They are 
maintained by an annual appropriation by the trustees of the associa- 
tion. The librarian is Mrs. Samuel F. Babbitt. 

Worcester County Law Library Association. 

This association organized January 21, 1842. The existing collection 
is one of the best working law libraries in the country. The books in 
it are nearly all recent purchases, and they have been carefully selected 
with reference to the actual needs of occupants of the bench and mem- 
bers of the bar. The librarv contains complete sets of all the reports of 
the United States courts and the courts of the different states and 
territories in the country and in England and Ireland, and a full 
collection of books which treat of English and American law in all 
its branches. It is also rich in English and American periodical law 
literature. Additions are continually made to the library. 

The library was very much indebted for a period of thirty or forty 
years to the late Judge Thomas L. Nelson. It is well known that for 
the larger portion of that time, he was almost alone instrumental in 
securing the means for building up the library and in selecting books to- 
be added to it. 

The library derives its income from fees paid by clerks of courts into- 
the county treasury, and from especial grants made for its benefit by the; 
County Commissioners. 



The Worcester of 1898. 213 

A handsome sum of money is available yearly for the purchase of 
books. The library now contains 20,000 volumes. It is open from g 
o'clock A. M. to 5 o'clock p. M. every secular day of the week, excepting 
Saturday, when it is closed in the afternoon. The librarj' is used 
mainly by occupants of the bench and members of the bar, but is 
open to every inhabitant of the county, subject only to such regula- 
tions as may be prescribed by the association which manages it, with 
the approval of the Supreme Judicial Court. The present librarian is 
Theodore S. Johnson, Esquire, who holds the position as clerk of the 
courts. The active librarian is Doctor George E. Wire. 

Several portraits of eminent past and present members of the Worces- 
ter county bar adorn the library room, and hang in other rooms in the 
building. The library is in the Court House. 

Worcester County Horticultural Society. 

The Horticultural vSociety began to collect a library in the year 1844, 
four years after its formation, and two years after it became a chartered 
organization. The library is in the building of the society, 1 8 Front street, 
which was dedicated in the autumn of 1852, and is called Horticultural 
Hall. Before it was moved to that place, in 1861 or 1862, it had for 
many years been kept in the office of Mr. Clarendon Harris. The library 
began in a humble way under the fostering care of Doctor John Green, 
the first president of the society; Frederick W. Paine, Isaac Davis, 
Samuel F. Haven, William Lincoln, Anthony Chase, Samuel H. Colton, 
Clarendon Harris, and others, and has grown gradually to its present 
size of about 3,000 bound volumes. It also contains many pamphlets. 

The works in the library treat of horticulture in all its branches. It 
also contains many volumes relating to agriculture. While the library 
owns a large number of books of historical interest, its strength lies in 
works on horticulture which have been published during the last fifty 
years. It has a good collection of sets of English, French and American 
periodicals that belong to the department of horticulture. The library 
has been carefully selected with reference to the wants of its users. 
Books may be taken to their homes by members of the society. 

Although, strictly speaking, none but members can use the books of 
the Horticultural Society, it should be added that the library is admin- 
istered in the spirit of general helpfulness, and that information can 
readily be obtained from it by all persons who need it. The large room 
which it occupies is used as a reading-room, which is supplied with the 
current numbers of leading horticultural magazines and papers of Eng- 
land and America. The library is inferior to that of the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society in Boston, but is still one of the best collections of 



The Worcester of 1898. 215 

its kind in the country. An annual appropriation is made by the 
Horticultural vSociety for the maintenance and growth of the library 
and for providing periodicals for the reading-room. 

The late Judge Francis H. Dewey left to the society a fund of $1,000, 
the income of which is to be used for buying books for the library. The 
librarians of the society have been Anthony Chase, 1844 to 185 1 ; Clar- 
endon Harris, 1851 to 1862; Edward W. Lincoln, 1862-1871; George E. 
Francis, 1871; Edward W. Lincoln, 1872 to 1874; William T. Harlow, 
1874; John C. Newton, 1875 to 1879; Charles E. Brooks, 1879 to 1890; 
Adin A. Hixon, present incumbent. 

Worcester County Musical Association. 

The association was formed in 1858, but did not begin to collect a 
library until five years later, hiring before 1863 such musical works as 
it had occasion to use, from publishers and others. It now has a very 
valuable musical library. It has 1 5,000 volumes of oratorios, cantatas, 
and other large choral works which have been brought out by the asso- 
ciation at its concerts and festivals. It has scores and orchestra parts 
for a considerable number of such compositions. Besides the larger 
works, it owns an extensive collection of chorus selections from various 
authors in sheets. 

This library stands high among the musical collections of this section 
of the country. Mr. George W. Elkins has been the librarian for many 
years. 

Worcester Choral Union. 

The Worcester Choral Union was incorporated ]\Iarch 31, 1871. The 
act of incorporation was accepted in the following year, and officers 
were chosen September 9, 1872. The present librarian is Mr. G. Arthur 
Smith. The library consists of 3,1 54 volumes and pieces of music. No 
additions have been made to it for a number of years, and at the 
present time it is packed in boxes and stored in the house of the 
president of the society, ilr. Charles E. Wilder. 

The Worcester vSocietv of Antiquitv. 

The Society of Antiquity was formed in 1S75. It began to collect a 
library two years later. That became at once available for the use of 
members of the society, but was not opened to the public at stated 
hours, according to the plan observed to-day, until 1883. 

The library po.ssesses 15,000 volumes and a very large collection of 
pamphlets. A considerable portion of it consists of town histories,. 



^i6 The Worcester of 1898. 

genealogies, and works treating of other subjects of especial interest to 
persons making investigations of the kind which members of such an 
organization as The Society of Antiquity wish to engage in. The 
library grows almost wholly by gifts. The largest and most valuable 
of those which it has received is the library of the late Reverend 
■George Allen. That was bought with money raised by subscription, 
by Honorable George F. Hoar, and presented to the society. The 
largest sums of money were subscribed by the late Mr. David Whit- 
comb, and by Mr. George Sumner. Mr. Allen's library numbered 2,300 
volumes and a like number of pamphlets. Besides containing books of 
other kinds, it "has been pronounced by competent authority to be one 
of the best representative collections of the New England theology of 
the olden time ever brought together" in this vicinity. This gift was 
received in the spring of 1884. Early in the following year Mrs. Char- 
lotte Downes of Washington, D. C, presented to the society the library 
of her late husband, Mr. John Downes. Both Mr. and Mrs. Downes 
had at an earlier period, been residents of Worcester. The •' Downes 
■Collection," as it is called, comprises 479 volumes, 58 pamphlets, 
T^esides a noteworthy accumulation of 63 1 almanacs, broadsides, papers, 
manuscripts, etc., which had been brought together by its former 
owner during the passage of a long life. It contains copies of twelve 
different editions of the "New England Primer," among them a copy of 
the original work issued in 1779, and a number of publications of Isaiah 
Thomas for children and other persons. The books in the Downes 
Collection are largely astronomical and mathematical. 

The vSociety of Antiquity needs a fund, the income of which may l)e 
■expended in the care and management of the library, and in buying 
books for it. The books now in the library are largely used. The 
library and museum are in a brick building put up for its use a few 
years ago on Salisbury street, and are open to the public from i to 5 
o'clock p. ^r. every day of the week excepting vSunday. The society has 
been much aided by gifts of money and land from Honorable Stephen 
Salisbury. Mr. Thomas A. Dickinson has been librarian for many 
years. 

Educational Institutions. 

The College of the Holy Cross has for the use of its faculty a library 
of about 15,000 volumes. These are mainly literary, philosophical and 
theological in character. Students have access to the books in this 
library which are not in their own library, through a professor. 

The library of the students numbers about 3,000 volumes. The books 
added to this library are mainly selected by the librarian. 



The Worcester of 1898. 217 

Clark University has a collection of about 17,000 volumes and 2,000 
pamphlets. It takes 1 50 serials. The books and periodicals are chiefly 
scientific and technical, and are highly specialized in character. Mr. 
Louis N. Wilson is librarian. 

The library of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute contains about 
4,000 volumes. The books are technical in character. The librarian is 
Elizabeth K. Francis. 

The library of the State Normal .School has 10,450 volumes. Of 
these, 4,450 are for the usual uses of a general librarv, and 6,000 are 
text-books. 

The Worcester Classical High vSchool has 2,100 volumes, and the 
English High School about 1,000. These books are exclusive of the 
text-books, which belong to the city of Worcester. 

The library of the Worcester Academy contains 2,500 carefully 
selected volumes; that of the Highland Military Academy about i.ooo 
volumes. Other public and private schools have small libraries. In 
the rooms of the superintendent of public schools there is an interesting 
collection of text-books, and works which treat of schools and education. 
It numbers about 2,000 volumes. 

Hospitals, Etc. 

In the Worcester Lunatic Hospital, a vState institution, there is a 
patients' library of 3,211 volumes. The hospital also has a medical 
library of 1,250 volumes. 

The Worcester Insane Asylum, also a State institution, has a patients' 
library of about 500 volumes, and a small collection of medical books. 

The City Hospital has a medical library of about 300 volumes, and a 
few books for nurses. 

The Worcester County Homoeopathic ]\Iedical Society has a library of 
about 1,000 volumes. 

OTHER LIBRARIES. 

The Worcester Natural History Society has a library of 553 volumes. 
A reading-room is open to members of the society. There are a few 
libraries in Worcester, intended for grown-up persons, which are con- 
nected with Protestant religious societies in the place. The most 
important of these, perhaps, is the Bangs Library of the old Second 
Parish, which contains about 1,500 volumes. This library was founded 
by Edward D. Bangs, who will be remembered as having been for several 
years secretary of state in this Commonwealth. Mr. Bangs was a mem- 
ber of the Second Parish, and at his death left to the society the "sum 
of $400 as a perpetual fund for a parish library, the income of which 



The Worcester of 1898. 219 

is to be applied to the purchase of useful books, particularly such as 
may be adapted to the religious and moral improvement of the young." 
The late Stephen Salisbury, also a member of the society, left to the 
Second Parish the sum of $1,500, the income of which is used in buying 
books for the Bangs Librar}-. 

The library of the Jail and House of Correction contains 650 volumes. 
It is made up of stories, histories, biographies, religioiis works, and a 
selection of books made with especial reference to the wants of Roman 
Catholic prisoners. 

It is unnecessary to state that there are vSunday school libraries be- 
longing to different churches in Worcester. At the Directory office 
there is a collection of 400 directories of different towns and cities. 
These, residents of Worcester are invited to use. 

Mr. Andrew P. Lundborg, the Swedish bookseller, states that there 
are 1,500 Swedish books in churches and clubs in Worcester besides 
those in that language in the Free Public Library. 

Among the libraries belonging to Catholic institutions, there are, 
besides the library of Holy Cross College, which has already been 
mentioned, several connected with different churches, as, for example, 
the Sodality library in the Catholic Institute and the Sunday school 
library in the school-house on Vernon street, which belongs to St. John's 
Parish ; the library of St. Anne's Church ; that of the Young Women's 
Society of the Church of the Sacred Heart, and the Sunday school 
library and the library of the Alutual Advancement Society of St. Peter's 
Church. Among other Catholic libraries is the Sodality library in the 
Convent of Mercy on High street. In these and other libraries con- 
nected with Catholic institutions there are at least 6,000 or 7,000 
viihmies. 




NATHANIEL PAINE. 



LITERARY, SCIENTIFIC AND HISTORICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

By Nathaniel Paine, A. M.* 

nHE history of Worcester in the past gives abundant evidence that 
its citizens have taken advantage of organization and coopera- 
tion in carrying out any enterprise they had at heart, for societies and 
associations were very early organized, not only for educational pur- 
poses, but to influence the political and social life of the town. 

It is proposed in this chapter to give brief notices of the more 
prominent literary, scientific and historical societies now in existence 
in the city. 

Before speaking of them, it may not be out of place to call attention 
to a few organizations founded in the early days of the town and not 
now in existence, but which in their day had more or less influence on 
the lives of our citizens. 

One of the earliest of these of which there is any record was the 
"American Political Society," organized in 1773, which became a promi- 
nent factor in guiding the early Revolutionary action of the town and 
county, especially in bringing aboiat the action of the majority of the 
people against the loyalists, who were largely men of standing in the 
community, and holders of offices under the crown. 

It was undoubtedly the action of this society towards the loyalists 
that caused many of them to leave the town and country after giving 
up the offices they held. 

The society also took an active part in municipal affairs, and in 
directing who should be supported for town and county oflices. It is 
very probable that this attempt to control the town meetings and to 
dictate in the election of officers, caused dissensions among its mem- 
bers, and brought about its dissolution after an existence of about two 
years. 

Among the societies that have ceased to exist are two that are 
worthy of mention, because of the part they had in the early educa- 
tional life of the town. 



*See sketch in Biographical Department. 



222 The Worcester of 1898. 

The Worcester County Athenaeum, estabHshed in 1830, as a stock 
company, with the object of forming a public library in Worcester, was 
probably one of the first organized attempts made for that purpose in 
central Massachusetts. It had acquired a small library of its own, and 
had also become possessed of a small collection of books which had 
been gathered by the " Worcester County Lj-ceum of Natural History." 
a society formed at some earlier day, whose existence was so brief that 
but little is known of it. 

After a few years the Athenaeum organization, which had been sup- 
ported by the subscriptions of a few individuals, was given up and its 
library transferred to the American Antiquarian vSociety. 

Another society which had but a brief existence was the Worcester 
County Historical Society, incorporated in 1831 for the purpose of 
" preserving materials for a complete and minute history of Worcester 
county." From Lincoln's "History of Worcester" it appears that in 
the celebration of the centennial of the establishment of the county, 
October, 1S31, this society took an active part, its pi^esident. Honor- 
able John Davis, delivering an address. As there is very little more 
recorded of it, it would seem that its aims did not meet with much 
encouragement, although it is quite probable that it may have been an 
aid to William Lincoln in the preparation of his valuable history of the 
town of Worcester a few years later. 

The oldest secular organization now in active existence in Worcester 
is the Worcester Fire Society, established in 1793, "for the more 
effectual assistance of each other and of their townsmen in times of 
danger from fire." It has long since been superseded in that work by 
modern organizations and appliances, but it still observes the rules and 
regulations of a hundred years ago in regard to the care of the buckets, 
bags and bed-keys of the members, and quarterly meetings are held 
with regularit}'. 

While it is now regarded as a social organization, it has some claim 
for mention here, as it is the custom to have an oration and a poem 
presented at each annual meeting, and it has contributed not a little to 
the history of the town and city by the printing of reminiscences or 
biographical notices of deceased members, many of whom were promi- 
nent in the affairs of the town, county and state. 

The American Antiquarian Society, whose members are from all 
parts of the world, has its headquarters in Worcester, and may rightly 
be classed among our local institutions. It is the oldest society of an 
educational nature in the city, having been founded in 1 8 1 2 and incor- 
porated the same year. The original petition to the Legislature for an 
act of incorporation set forth that the petitioners were "influenced by 
a desire to contribute to the advancement of the arts and sciences, and 



The Worcester of 1898. 223 

to aid by their indiv-idual and united efforts in collecting and preserving 
such materials as may be useful in marking their progress not only in 
the United States, but in other parts of the globe." Isaiah Thomas, 
the founder of the Mnsscrd/iisc/ts S/<_v, had accumulated a large collection 
of books, pamphlets and newspapers, and it was his offer to contribute 
these to a society that would take proper care of them that made the 
starting of such an'enterprise possible. In 18 19 the society had become 
an institution of such size and importance that the need of a birilding 
for preserving its collections, then of very considerable value, became 
apparent to its members. In this emergency Mr. Thomas, its generous 
founder, at his own expense, erected on the east side of Summer street, 
near Lincoln square, a commodious building of brick, and presented it 
to the society. 

This building answered the purposes of the society till 1853, at which 
time the increase in the library and cabinet had become so great that 
it became necessary to erect the present building at the corner of iSIain 
and Highlands streets. Through the libei'ality of Honorable vStephen 
Salisbury, then the president, a substantial addition was made to the 
building in 1878. 

The library and cabinet of the society have been constantly increas- 
ing, the former now numbering upwards of 100,000 volumes, which 
will be spoken of more in detail in another chapter. 

The library and the valuable collection of manuscripts belonging 
to the society have been freely consulted by some of our most noted 
historians, among whom mav be mentioned George Bancroft, Francis 
Parkman, Moses Coit Tyler, John B. McMaster, as well as many other 
students and writers. 

There is also a large and valuable collection of newspapers, manu- 
scripts and broadsides, the collection of newspapers being one of the 
largest and most important in the country, and is almost daily con- 
sulted, students from all parts of the country availing themselves of 
the privilege. The society has a goodly number of early American 
imprints, which have now become of great rarity and value. A list of 
these published before 1 700 has recently been printed. 

The publications of the Antiquarian Society have been numerous, 
consisting of the semi-annual reports of the proceedings from 1849 to 
the present time, containing a large amount of interesting archteo- 
logical and historical information. 

Seven volumes of the '' Arclueologia Aiucricana" have also been 
published. These contain reprints of rare books and manuscripts, and 
specially prepared papers of antiquarian and historical topics. The 
last three volumes of this series contain a reprint of Thomas' "History 
of Printing in America," to which is added a list of American pre- 



224 



The Worcester of li 



■Revolutionary publications, prepared by the late Samuel F. Haven, 
LL. D., for many years the learned librarian of the society; and the 
"Note Book kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., lawyer in Boston, Massa- 
chusetts-Bay, from June 27, 1638, to July 29, 1641." 

Of interest to the general public may be mentioned the portraits of 
eminent men on the walls of the library, and its cabinets of antiquarian 
and historical articles. 

The rooms of the society are open to the public without charge, 
under proper regulations, and students and others wishing to make 
use of its library are given every facility to do so, consistent with the 
care and preservation of its treasures. 




AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAM SOCIETY. 



The present officers of the society are: vStephen Salisbury, President; 
George F. Hoar of Worcester and Edward Everett Hale of Boston, 
Vice-Presidents; Franklin B. Dexter of New Haven, Secretary of For- 
eign Correspondence; Charles Francis Adams of Lincoln, Secretary of 
Domestic Correspondence; Charles A. Chase of Worcester, Recording 
Secretary, and Nathaniel Paine of Worcester, Treasurer; and ten Coun- 
cilors, viz., Samuel A. Green of Boston, Egbert C. Smyth of Andover, 
Samuel S. Green, Edward L. Davis, J. Evarts Greene and G. Stanley 
Hall of Worcester, William B. Welden of Providence, John D. Wash- 
burn, Thomas C. Mendenhall of Worcester, and James P. Baxter of 
Portland, Maine. 



The Worcester of 1898. 225 

The Worcester District ]\[edical Society, founded in 1 804 as an 
auxiliary society of the Massachusetts Medical Societ}', has a well- 
selected library of about 5,000 volumes, which is kept in the Free 
Public Library building, and can be consulted by citizens of Worces- 
ter under proper restrictions. Original papers with discussions are 
presented by members from time to time. The officers are: Presi- 
dent, P. P. Comey; Vice-President, Wesley Davis; Secretary, W. R. 
(iilman; Treasurer, G. O. Ward; Librarian, A. C. Getchell. The 
Worcester County Homoeopathic Medical Societj^ organized in 1866, 
who.se members are homoeopathic physicians from different parts of 
the county, holds its meetings quarterly. 

There is another society known as the Worcester Medical Associa- 
tion, of which Walter T. Clark is president. They hold eight meetings 
a year. 

The Worcester Agricultural Societ}', incorporated in 1818, has from 
its formation been 'one of the most active of the many societies in the 
town and city. Its annual fairs, or cattle shows, as they were formerly 
called, have drawn large numbers of visitors from all parts of the State. 
For many years these fairs were held on the Common, near the Town 
and City Hall, but since 1853 they have been held on the grounds of the 
society on Agricultural street, and have become much wider in their 
scope, with special attention to the exhibition and trotting of horses, 
and this feature has probably increased the attendance very largel}-. 

For the past few years the annual fair has been held in connection 
with that of the New England Agricultural vSociety or the Bay vState 
Agricultural Society, with varying success. 

The location of the present grounds having rendered them very valu- 
able for residences, the societ}' has lately voted to sell the property 
should a favorable opportunity arise, and it is quite probable that this 
will be brought about within a short time. 

The officers of the Agricultural Society the present year are Warren 
C. Jewett, President; Edwin P. Curtis and Frederick H. Chamberlain, 
Vice-Presidents, and Leander F. Herrick, Secretary and Treasiirer. 

The Worcester County Horticultural vSociety, founded in 1840 and 
incorporated in 1842, has been for many years one of the most energetic 
organizations of our growing city, and has done much to encourage not 
only the raising of fruits and vegetables, but especially has manifested 
its interest in the care of the parks and shade trees of the city. Weekly 
exhibitions of flowers, fruits and vegetables are held during the greater 
part of the year, and in the winter months lectures appropriate to the 
aims and objects of the society have been given bj' competent persons. 
It has a valuable library of several hundred volumes, selected with a 
view to the needs of members, who have free access to it. 















rt. 



The Worcester of 1898. 227 

The commodious and well-arranged hall of the society is located on 
Front street, and affords ample accommodations for its exhibitions, and 
is also a source of income. It is adorned with a fane collection of many- 
portraits of past and present officers. 

O. B. Hadwen is President; Stephen Salisbury, George E. Francis 
and Calvin L. Hartshorn, Vice-Presidents; A. A. Hixon, vSecretary, and 
Nathaniel Paine, Treasurer. 

The Worcester Mechanics Association was organized in 1842 with 
William A. Wheeler, President; Ichabod Washburn, Vice-President; 
Albert Tolman, vSecretary, and Elbridge G. Partridge, Treasurer. 

Its aim and objects as stated at that time were the "moral, intel- 
lectual and social improvement of its members, the perfection of the 
mechanic arts, and the pecuniary assistance of the needy." 

For more than fifty years this organization has been one of the most 
active and important in our city, and has done much to benefit and 
encourage the mechanics, who have done so much to build up and 
maintain its financial prosperity. 

The Mechanics Hall, completed and dedicated by the association in 
March, 1857, is still the largest and finest in the city, and is in constant 
demand for lectures, concerts, and other entertainments where large 
numbers are expected to be present ; its seating capacity is about 
2,000. 

The association has a library of upwards of 13,000 volumes, a detailed 
notice of which will appear in another part of this volume. A reading- 
room, supplied with many of the most important newspapers and 
periodicals, is provided for the use of members, who very generally 
avail themselves of its privileges. 

One of the first steps taken after the organization of the association 
was to arrange for an annual course of lectures, the first lecture being 
given by Elihu Burritt ("The Learned Blacksmith"), and these have be- 
come so popular that for several years it has been necessary to have two 
courses of lectures or entertainments in order to accommodate all who 
wi.shed to attend. 

A school for instruction in mechanical, architectiiral and freehand 
drawing is also maintained for the benefit of members and their sons. 

The membership of the association, which now exceeds 1,200, is 
composed of the most enterprising mechanics of the city. 

The present Board of Management consists of James Logan, Presi- 
dent; Albert A. Barker, Vice-President, and William A. Smith, Clerk 
and Treasurer; 

The Worcester Natural History Society, originally called the Young 
Men's Library Association, was incorporated by a special act of the 
Legislature in 1853, and in 1854 a department devoted to the study of 



228 



The Worcester of 1898. 



natural history was organized with Reverend E. E. Hale (then pastor of 
the Church of the Unity) as chairman. 

They had accumulated a library of some considerable size and value, 
when in 1859 it was transferred to the city as the beginning of the Free 
Public Library. 

Previous to this, in 1856, the Worcester Lyceum, established in 1829, 
was merged in the Library Association, and the name changed to the 
Worcester Lyceum and Library Association. 

The collection and study of specimens in natural history soon became 
the principal object of the society, and in 1884 the name was again 




#lltllliliiJliiiil!iil!iliHililiil!lllt!|ll!!!!llllllir!il!i,;il|||il!n 



NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 

changed by an act of the Legislature to the Worcester Natural Historv 
Society, by which title it is now known. 

The society has a large and valuable cabinet of specimens, many of 
them collected with special reference to the natural history of Worcester 
county, which has been used by the pupils in the schools of the city and 
others under the direction of competent instructors. 

Classes in various departments of natural history have been main- 
tained for the benefit of members, and many have availed themselves of 
the facilities offered in that direction. Monthly meetings are also held, 
with papers and discussions upon scientific subjects, to which all 
interested are invited. The society has lately published a valuable 
monograph on "The Physical Geography of Worcester," by Joseph 
H. Perry, with photographic illustrations by J. Chauncey Lyford. 

The museum of the society is at the corner of State and Harvard 
streets, and is open to the public without charge, from 9 a. m. to 5 r. m., 



The Worcester of 1898. 229 

in charge of a custodian, who is ready to assist students and amatevirs in 
their investigations. The location of the society's building is not all 
that could be desired, owing to its being so far from other educational 
institutions of the city, and those most interested in its welfare hope 
that at no distant day some arrangement may be made by which the 
present building may be disposed of, and another obtained in a more 
convenient situation. 

The Worcester County Musical Association may not be considered as 
either "literarv, scientific or historical," yet it would seem an omission 
to make no mention of it in an account of Worcester societies, for it 
certainly has played an important part in the musical education of our city. 

Organized in 1863 for "the improvement of choirs in the performance 
of church music; the formation of an elevated musical taste, through 
the study of music in its higher departments, and a social, genial, 
harmonious reunion of all lovers of music," it has become one of the 
widest known of Worcester institutions, and has done much in the past, 
and bids fair to do still more in the future, to raise the standard of vocal 
and instrumental music not only in our own city, but in the country at 
large. 

The annual festivals or concerts are very largely attended, lovers of 
music from distant points as well as our own citizens availing them- 
selves of the opportunity offered to listen to singing from the most 
eminent vocalists, and music fi'om the best of orchestras. For the last 
few years there has been marked improvement in the character of the 
festivals; they have been more classical' in their tone and of greater 
value to real lovers of music. 

Charles M. Bent is the President; Daniel Downey, Vice-President; 
Luther M. Lovell, Secretary, and George R. Bliss, Treasurer. 

The Worcester Art Society was organized in 1877, and incorporated 
in 1887, to promote art culture, and has from its organization taken an 
active part in the art education of the city. 

Lectures are given during the winter by specialists in different 
branches of the fine arts, to which members of the Art Students' 
Club and the teachers of the public schools are invited, and they have 
very generally availed themselves of the privilege. 

From time to time loan exhibitions of paintings, engravings and bric- 
a-brac have been given under the management of the society, which 
have been very popular, affording the public an opportunity to see fine 
works of art owned in Worcester and elsewhere, and thereby creating 
and encouraging a taste for the beautiful, and tending to elevate the 
general tone of the community. 

The members of the Art vSociety have been much interested in the 
success of the new Art Museum, and made the first contribution to its 



2 30 



The Worcester of 1898. 




■L .■. jRCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY. 



collections (a fine cast of the Venus cle Melos), and they have also taken 
a prominent part in the collection and arrangement of the first loan 
exhibition held in the new building. Since the incorporation of the Art 
Society, the Presidents have been Nathaniel Paine, Samuel S. Green, 
Charles S. Hale, Lincoln N. Kinnicutt, and Austin S. Garver, who is 
now the President; with Charles A. Chase and Fred. vS. Pratt, Vice- 
Presidents; Charles T. Davis, Clerk, and Z. W. Coombs, Treasurer. 
The average membership of the society is about 350. 

The Art Students' Club was incorporated in 1887, for "the encourage- 
ment, promotion and practice of art," its active membership being 
confined to artists and art students of Worcester, no one being eligible 
who is not a practical student in some branch of art. 

This club is one of the active organizations of the city, and is 
doing a good work by means of classes with competent instructors and 
models, the advantages of which the members avail themselves of, as is 
indicated by the marked improvement shown from year to year in the 
public exhibitions of their work. 



The Worcester of 1898. 231 

These yearly exhibitions given by the club have come to be looked 
forward to with great interest by the public, and have proved of sub- 
stantial benefit to the members. 

The active membership of the club is limited to thirty, but there are 
about sixty honorary or fine membe:\s. 

Albert F. Simmons is President; George E. Gladwin, A'ice-President; 
Edwin Topanelian, Treasurer, and George W. Child, Secretary. 

The Worcester Society of Antiquit}' was organized in 1875, and incor- 
porated in February, 1877, its object being "to foster in its members a 
love and admiration for antiquarian research and archaeological science, 
and to rescue from oblivion such historical matter as would otherwise 
be lost." Although the objects of the society, as stated above, are quite 
e.Ktensive in their scope, it is undoubtedly true that up to the present 
time its work has been in the line of historical rather than antiquarian 
investigations, so that its name does not indicate to the public gener- 
ally its most successful achievements. 

The publication of the early records of Worcester, 1667 to 1848, and 
a list of births, deaths and marriages from the earliest recorded to 1848, 
have been of the greatest value to the historical student, and have 
preserved in permanent form much that was very likely to be lost 
or destroyed. These with the printing the Records of the Court of 
General Sessions of the Peace, 1731 to 1737, are deserving of commen- 
dation, as they have been prepared with great care from the original 
manuscripts, and are of special value as books of reference. The annual 
proceedings of the societ3' have also been printed, making in all fifteen 
volumes published, which testify most emphatically to the activity and 
usefulness of the organization. There will be found in the building of 
the society on Salisbury street, which was erected in 1891, a large and 
valuable library, and an extensive collection of articles illustrating New 
England history, with special reference to that of Worcester county. 
The library and cabinet are open free to the public every week-day 
afternoon, and a large number avail themselves of the opportunity to 
visit them. 

During the present year a special effort has been made to interest 
the ladies in the work of the society, resulting in an addition of over 
200 in a single month. 

The Society of Antiquity is distinctly a local institution, and deserves 
and should have the active cooperation of our citizens, which can be 
most practically manifested by their becoming members and taking a 
part in the good work it has in hand. 

A notice of the valuable library belonging to the society will be 
found in another chapter. 



The Worcester of 1898. 233 

The officers of the society for the present year are : F. L. Hutchins, 
President; EUery B. Crane and William H. Sawyer, Vice-Presidents; 
Walter Davidson, Secretary; Henry F. iStedman, Treasurer, and 
Thomas A. Dickinson, Librarian. 

The St. Wulstan vSociety, though originally formed for social inter- 
course among its members, has, by reason of its being made the 
custodian of the "Helen C. Knovvles fund for the advancement of art 
education in Worcester," become identified with the educational life 
of the city. The society was incorporated in 1891, for the "purpose of 
promoting literature, art, historical and social science in Worcester, 
and holding and administering the Helen C. Knowles legacy for pro- 
moting art education in Worcester, and such other funds as may be 
acquired for the same and kindred objects." This fund now amounts 
to about $35,000, and from the income thereof the society has given 
in the last three years to the Worcester Art Society and the Art 
Students' Club the sum of $1,100 each, thereby contributing largely 
to the objects those societies have at heart. The present year (1898) 
the income has been given to the Worcester Art Museum, to be used 
in the formation of classes for study of art, and for exhibitions of paint- 
ings and other works of art. The membership of the St. Wulstan 
Society is limited by the by-laws to sixteen. Honorable George F. 
Hoar is the President; Honorable vStephen Salisbury, Vice-President; 
J. Evarts Greene, Clerk, and Honorable Henry A. Marsh, Treasurer. 

The Public School Art League was organized in 1895, the object 
being to "cultivate in the people, through the influence of the public 
school pupils, a desire for a finer life by creating among them a love 
for the beautiful, promoting and strengthening this love among the 
pupils by a more extended and artistic decorations in the school-rooms, 
etc." The membership of the league is limited, and it is expected that 
each one will use his influence in securing more artistic surroundings 
in the school-rooms, and also secure contributions of inoney for the 
purchase of appropriate objects for decoration. Enough has alread}' 
been accomplished by this organization in the decoration of school- 
rooms in different parts of the city to prove its need and the good 
judgment of its projectors. 

That its work has been appreciated by those interested in the welfare 
of our schools, is shown by their ready response to the call for aid to 
enable the league to carry out their plans for adding to the attractions 
of the school-rooms, for, beside contributions of money, several ladies 
and gentlemen have given appropriate engravings, photographs and 
casts, which have been suitably placed. 

The first president of the league was Reverend Austin S. Garver, 
who originally called the attention of the School Board to the project. 



234 The Worcester of 189S. 

The officers at present are: Frank J. Darrah, President: Miss Frances- 
Lincoln, Vice-President; Miss Jeanie Lea Southwick, Secretary, and 
Samuel S. Green, Treasurer. 

The Worcester Art Museum, although the youngest institution of an 
educational nature in the city, is without doubt destined to be one of 
the most important, and one that will exert a refining influence upon 
all classes. 

The first meeting to take into consideration the founding of an art 
museum was held at the house of Honorable Stephen .Sali.sbury on the 
evening of February 25, 1896, thirty or forty ladies and gentlemen 
supposed to be interested in art, being present by invitation. At this 
meeting Mr. Salisbury presented a plan which he had formulated for 
the establishment and maintenance of such an institution, and in order 
to carry it out offered to present a valuable tract of over an acre of land 
situated on Salisbury street, and $100,000 in money, $50,000 of this 
sum to be used for the erection of a building and the balance to be 
invested for the maintenance of the Museum. This liberal offer, which 
had been most modestly made, was received with hearty applause by 
all present at the meeting, and they expressed their desire to do all 
that was in their power to carry out the wishes of the donor. 

Mr. Salisbury stated that it was his wish that a corporation, to con- 
sist of fifty ladies and gentlemen, should be formed to hold in trust the 
money and land he had given, for the " benefit of all the people of the 
city of Worcester," and at a subsequent meeting, held March 24, 1896, 
steps were taken to secure a charter. At this meeting bj'-laws were 
adopted and officers elected. 

The first Board of Directors consisted of Daniel Merriman, President; 
Francis H. Dewey, Vice-President; T. Hovey Gage, Jr., Secretary; 
Lincoln N. Kinnicutt, Treasurer, and Charles H. Davis, Lyman A. Ely, 
George E. Francis, John G. Heywood, Thomas C. Mendenhall, Mrs. 
Helen B. Merriman, Miss ^lary Perley and Nathaniel Paine, Directors. 

Very soon after the organization the directors took steps for the 
erection of a fire-proof building, and plans prepared by Messrs. Earle & 
Fisher of Worcester were adopted, and a contract was made with 
Norcross Bros, of Worcester for carr3-ing out the plans at a cost of 
$90,000. Early in 1897 Mr. Salisbury made an additional gift of land 
in the rear of the proposed building, and he has also assumed the 
expense of grading and beautifying the grounds about the Museum. 
It was soon found that to meet the expense of the proposed building 
more money would be required, and an appeal was made to the public 
for a subscription of $50,000 additional, to be called the "Associate 
Founders' vSubscription." Of this amount over $40,000 has already 
been subscribed, and it is confidently expected that the balance will be 



The Worcester of 1898. 235; 

obtained within a short time The subscriptions to the fund have been 
very general, all classes of our citizens taking part in it, the amounts 
given ranging from five cents to $3,000. 

The corner-stone of the Museum building was laid June 24, 1897, 
with appropriate ceremonies. His Excellency Governor Roger Wolcott 
and His Honor Mayor A. B. R. vSprague being present and taking part 
in the exercises. It was completed and formally opened on the evening 
of May 10, 1898, with a loan exhibition of oil and water-color paintings, 
which had been procured and arranged by members of the Worcester 
Art Society. 

Long before the completion of the building, several gifts of casts 
from antique statues had been made to the corporation, and many of 
these were on exhibition the opening night. 

The first gift of this kind was from the Worcester Art Society, a fine 
cast of the Venus of Melos, and soon after the Worcester Woman's Club 
presented a cast of the famous statue of Nike (Victory) of vSamothrake, 
since which between twenty and thirty more casts have been presented 
by various societies, clubs and other organizations of the city. 

The Museum is open every afternoon but Monday; Saturdays and 
Sundays being free, and a charge of twenty-five cents the other days. 
Any person subscribing five dollars towards the maintenance of the 
Museum is furnished with a ticket giving admission to the exhibitions 
for one year. 

The Worcester Mycological Society was organized in 1895 for the 
study of fungi, with special reference to the edible and non-poisonous- 
mushrooms of Worcester county. 

Meetings are held during the summer and fall, at which specimens 
are exhibited and classified, great interest being manifested- by the 
members. Specimens are also exhibited at the weekly meetings of the 
Horticultural ^Society. George E. Francis is the president. 

The Ridgway Ornithological Club was organized in 1889, for the 
study of the habits and structure of birds. It also assists the ornitho- 
logical bureau of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in gathering 
material for its work. Oscar F. Dodge is its president, and H. B. Long, 
secretary. 

In concluding this brief notice of the literary, scientific and historical 
societies of Worcester, it should be said that there are other organiza- 
tions that might properly be mentioned under this head, for connected 
with our schools and institutions of learning there are societies and 
clubs for literary or scientific study, but the limited space allowed for 
the subject does not permit of mention of them. 




°*% 




HENRY L. PARKER. 



PUBLIC CHARITIES. 

Bv THE Honorable Henry L. Parker.* 

|P2^V cities of like population present a longer list of noble charities 
than the city of Worcester. They are designed to I'each and 
alleviate almost ever}^ known form of human distress. 

For those suffering from bodily injury or stricken with acute disease, 
and without financial means, free surgical or medical treatment is pro- 
vided. 

Families suddenly rendered homeless are sheltei^ed and fed until they 
can provide food and shelter for themselves. Orphan children are 
furnished a comfortable home until they reach siich maturity as to 
become self-supporting. 

Trained nurses whose ministrations are gratuitous cheer and comfort 
the last days of the indigent victim of cancer, or other incurable disease. 

Even the tramp finds a rest for his weary feet with food and a night's 
lodging, on compliance with a few simple rules of the institution pro- 
vided for the purpose. 

The charities of the city may be classed under the general heads of 
Hospitals, Homes and Organizations. 



HOSPITALS. 

The Citv Hospital, situated on Jaques avenue, was incorporated in 
1 87 1, and is under the management of nine trustees chosen by the City 
Council in concurrence. 

This hospital has received from the estate of George Jacques, and from 
the gifts and bequests of many other citizens, a sum amounting in all to 
about $380,000. 

It contains a lying-in department (a feature unknown to nearly every 
other hospital), called the Knowles Maternity Ward. It has also a 
Training School for Nurses. During the year ending November 30,. 
1897, out of 1,582 patients admitted, 1,442 received free treatment. 



*See sketch in Biographical Department. 



The Worcester of 1898. 239 

The Isolation Hospital. Belmont street, near Adams street. 
This hospital was opened by the city in November, 1896, and is under 
the control of the city Board of Health, and is designed for the treatment 
■of cases of diphtheria and scarlet fever onl}'. 

Nurses ai^e furnished by the City Hospital, and patients, if unable to 
■pay, are admitted for free treatment. 

Memorial Home for Nurses. Jaques avenue. This munificent gift 
■of a home for the City Hospital nurses was presented to the city in 
1897 by the late Edward C. Thayer of Keene, New Hampshire. A 
costly building has been already erected opposite the main entrance of 
the City Hospital. 

Memorial Hosittal. Belmont street. The Memorial Hospital for 
women and children was endowed by Ichabod Washburn and incor- 
porated in 1 87 1. A dispensary, called the Washburn Free Dispensary, 
was established in 1874, and the hospital itself was opened in 1888. It 
is free for the admission of women and children who are unable to pa}', 
although payment is expected from those treated who have means. The 
cases taken are mostly incurables, although the hospital is not strictly 
limited to such. 

The Worcester Hahnemann Hospital. 46 Providence street (ho- 
moeopathic i. This institution was opened in 1896. By the provisions 
■of its by-laws, it is intended to be as nearly as possible a charitable 
institution. It has received, within the past year, the bequest of a 
■considerable sum for the maintenance of free beds. 

St. Vincent's Hospital. Vernon street, corner Winthrop. Incor- 
porated 1878. This is a Catholic institution, and intended primarily 
for members of that church, from which it receives support, but free 
treatment is given in many cases without regard to sect or nationality. 

During the past year this instittition, having outgrown its old quar- 
ters, has commenced the erection of a new, commodious and well- 
appointed brick building upon a site near by, and unsurpassed for 
purity of air and magnificence of view. The corner-stone was laid 
on October 9, 1898, with impressive ceremonies, and in the presence of 
about 8,000 people. Its entire frontage when completed will be 230 
feet. 



FREE DISPENSARIES. 

The City Hospital, Jaques avenue. 

Worcester Homceopathic Hospital, 44 ^Vaverley street. 

Memorial Hospital, Belmont street. 



The Worcester of 1898. 241 

HOMES. 

The Home Farm. The City Almshouse thus designated is located 
on Lincoln street, at the corner of Boylston. This institution bears 
ample evidence, if any were needed, of the genesis of a social con- 
science, and its inmates may well rejoice that they were born in these 
humanitarian days, for throughout all its appointments, from its eupho- 
nistic name to every detail, there seems a design to diminish (so far as 
consistent with the interest of the public') the humiliation and burden of 
poverty. 

The farm consists of about 450 acres of land, with commodious, well- 
equipped buildings and sanitary arrangements, and is operated partly 
by the inmates and partly by paid employees. The inmates number 
about 200, of whom nearly one-half are insane or idiotic. There is a 
separate department for the insane, and a complete separation of the 
sexes. 

The report of the (State) inspector of institutions for 1897 contains 
this endorsement: "This almshouse is a large and well-managed insti- 
tution. The house is under most efficient management, and is scrupu- 
lously clean, and orderly. Regular medical inspection is provided." 

Home for Aged Men, i 199 Main street. Incorporated 1876. Ben- 
eficiaries who are admitted must be at least fifty-five years of age, 
natives of the United States, and residents of Worcester for ten years 
previous to admission. Payment of the sum of $150, and the proper 
■observance of all rules and regulations, entitle a beneficiary to the 
privileges of the institution during life. 

Home for Aged Women. 1183 Main street. Incorporated 1869. 
A large endowment for this institution was left by the provisions of 
the will of the late Ichabod Washburn, and this endowment has been 
increased by contributions amounting to several thousand dollars from 
■other citizens of Worcester. Widows, and females who have never 
been married are the only beneficiaries, and especially those "who have 
not been the recipients of public charity, but have respectably sustained 
a struggle with disease or misfortune." None are excluded on account 
•of sect or nationality, although preference is given to those of American 
birth. An admission fee of $100 may be required from applicants, but 
is not imperative. 

Temporary Home and Day Nursery. 204 Southbridge street. 
Incorporated in 1892. vShelter is provided for a few days or weeks, as 
the case may be, for women and children temporarily deprived of a 
home. Compensation is expected in work if possible. 

At the Day Nursery, in the same building, working-women may leave 
their young children as they go to their work in the morning, and call 



The Worcester of 1898. 243: 

for them at night. For a trifling charge the children are furnished 
with a dinner, and otherwise cared for. 

The Welcome Mission. 62 Madison street. Organized 1894. This 
institution is under the auspices of the Worcester Local Union of the 
Society of Christian Endeavor, and is under the superintendence of 
William E. Oakley. It is a temporary refuge for the tramp, who is 
expected to render some equivalent for the food and lodging furnished 
him. This is done by the conversion of cord wood into fuel for kind- 
ling, and by work in the potato field, several acres of which the Mission 
has under culture. 

Worcester Children's Friend Society. Main, corner of Benefit 
street. Organized in 1848. This institution is more properly known 
as the Orphans' Home. Children of three years of age and upwards 
without parents, or with only one parent, but unable to properly support 
them, are admitted, cared for and educated until homes can be found 
for them. 

Similar homes are provided for orphan children in the following 
Catholic institutions: 

The St. Francis's Orphanage, 10 Bleeker street. 

Sisters of Charitj' (Gray Nuns), Granite street. 

Sisters of Mercy, 46 High street. 

Sisters of Notre Dame, 34 Vernon street. 

Sisters of Providence, 73 Vernon street. 

Sisters of St. Anne, 3 i Park street. 

The vSisters in charge of these respective homes also do much 
charitable work in visitation of the sick. 

The Young Women's Christl\n Association. Nos. 6, 8 and lo 
Chatham street. Incorporated in 1885. Though organized primarily 
on religious lines, it is the centre of much charitable work. It provides 
a home at low rates for working-girls, designed more especially for those 
having no comfortable home, and especially for young girls coming as 
strangers to the city for employment. It provides also educational and 
industrial classes, and contains a library, reading-room, gymnasium, 
directory for nurses, and an employment bureau. 

Two new features of the Y. W. C. A. are the travelers' aid work at 
the Union Station and the vacation home at Princeton. 

OBGANIZATIONS. 

The Worcester Employment Society. Rooms, 518 Main street. 
Organized in 1875 and incorporated 1885. This is one of the oldest 
charitable societies in the city, and the object of its organization, as set 
forth in its charter, is " the purpose of assisting needy and deserving 



244 



The Worcester of 1898. 




HOME FOR AGED MEN. 

women by giving them employment and otherwise." The employment 
furnished is sewing, and the compensation moderate, but many women 
have found this their only means of support. 

The Good Samaritan Society of Worcester. 200 Southbridge 
street. Organized 1892. The object of the society is to loan to the 
sick and needy such articles as may be required by them. 

Memorial Hospital Aid vSocietv. This society consists of an 
association of ladies, the principal feature of whose work is district 




HOME FOR AGED WOMEN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 245. 

nursing, or the care of the sick poor in their own homes. Tlie cases 
treated are mostly incurable, and many are patients who have been 
discharged from the hospital, but the work is not limited as to sex 
or the character of the disease. Two trained nurses are regularly 
employed who are graduated from the Memorial Hospital, and in case 
of emergency, temporary nurses are also supplied. 

These nurses visit their patients at stated intervals, and their minis- 
trations in applying new dressings to those aiflicted with cancer and 
ills of a like nature, bathing, disinfecting, and other ministrations, are 
invaluable to the siifferers. 

The City Missionary Society was chartered in 1883, and although 
organized primarily for religious and missionary purposes, it has inci- 
dentally carried on much charitable work, notably the establishment 
of free sewing-schools and the "Fresh Air Fund." 

The Board of Associated Charities was organized in 1890. Like 
other organizations of a like name and character in all large cities, its 
work is intended to reduce almsgiving to a system — to furnish to 
all benevolent societies of the city, and all tlie churches of whatever 
denomination, a central bureau of information, through the agency of 
which fraud may be detected, and relief extended to the needy, with 
proper discrimination, and with the assurance that it is productive of 
good results. 

There are many other societies and institutions of a less public char- 
acter, some of which are the offspring of a parent organization, and 
some the charitable features of which are confined for the most part 
to individual members. A full description of their work could not well 
be given within the limited space allowed this article. Among these 
are the Odd Fellows' Home; Geo. H. Ward Post 10, Grand Army of the 
Republic; Woman's Board of the' Baldwinsville Hospital Cottages, 
Worcester Branch; Worcester Boys' Club; Worcester Police Relief 
Association. 




GEORGE JAQUES. 



WORCESTER'S BENEFACTORS AND 
TRUST FUNDS. 

By the Hoxorable Hexrv A. Marsh.* 

jJHERE are few cities, if any, in the country that surpass the city of 
Worcester in the number and amount of gifts of money or its 
equivalent which have been made by its citizens to the several institu- 
tions and to the city itself during the last fifty years. It is estimated 
that the sum total of such gifts will exceed in value $5,000,000. 

A complete list of such benefactions would be too long for publication 
here, but appropriate mention of many of the larger gifts to institutions 
and the like will be made in other chapters of this volume. The gifts 
distinctly made to the city as a municipality are noteworthy, and are 
here recorded : 

CITY HOSPITAL. 

By deed, March 12, 1872, George Jacjues gave to the city of Worces- 
ter, as a site for a public city hospital, "a certain parcel of land situated 
in said city of Worcester, bounded on the north by Prince street (now 

Jaques avenue) . . . . ; on the east by Queen street 

on the south by land now or formerly of Samuel H. Colton . . . . ; 
and on the west by King street . . . . ; said parcel of land con- 
taining by estimate one hundred and fifty thousand, six hundred and 
forty-three (150,643) square feet," and valued at $35,000. 

George Jaques died August 24, 1872. In his will dated May 29, 1872, 
after giving legacies to the amount of about $20,000, he disposed of the 
balance of his estate in the following language : "All the rest, residue 
and remainder of mv estate, real, personal or mixed, not herein other- 
wise disposed of, of which I may die seized and possessed, or to which 
I may be entitled at the time of my decease, .... I give, devise 
and bequeath unto the city of Worcester. In trust, however, to be by 
the city applied to the sole and particular use and benefit of the institu- 



'See sketch in Biographical Department. 



248 The Worcester of 1898. 

tion recently established and known as the Worcester City Hospital." 
The value of this generous gift is estimated to exceed $200,000. 

In recognition of this noble and beneficent act of Mr. Jaques, a marble 
tablet was placed in the hallway of the administration building bearing 
the following appropriate inscription : 

IN MKMORV OF 

GEORGE JAQUES, 

BORN FEBRUARY iS, lSl6, 

DIED AUGUST 24, IS72, 

WHO GAVE THE SITE OF THIS BUILDING 

TO THE CITY OF \VORCESTER FOU A 

PUISLIC IIOSI'ITAL, AND LEFT MOST 

OF HIS LARGE ESTATE FOR ITS SUI'1'ORT, 

A GRATEFUL CITY PLACES 

THIS TABLET. 

THOUGH IT SI'EAKS TO MANY GENERATIONS, 

THE BLESSINGS OF HIS GIFT AND 

THE GRATITUDE OF OUR CITIZENS 

WILL OUTLAST THE STONE. 

Albert Curtis in 1874 gave a consulting library of medical books, and 
in January, 1875, continbuted $1,000 as a fund, the interest thereof to 
be expended for replenishing this library. 

Isaac Davis in 1873 gave $1,000 to the hospital, which was to accu- 
mulate until it became $2,000, after which time "the income was to be 
applied to the support of poor and destitute persons who are admitted 
to the hospital, and are imable to pay their expenses while there." 

John Boyer vShaw gave, by will dated March 22, 1872, a bequest to 
the City Hospital of one-fifth part of his property, subject to a life 
interest. This fund when realized amounted to $2,000. 

In 188.1 a bequest of $5,000 was made by Joseph A. Tenney for the 
general purposes of the hospital. 

The will of the late Honorable Stephen Salisbury, probated in 1884, 
contained the following provision: "I give and bequeath to the City 
Hospital of Worcester $3,000 on condition that the Trustees of that 
hospital shall provide three free beds in that hospital, in perpetuity, for 
the treatment of suitable patients unable to make payment therefor, and 
that my son Stephen shall have the right to offer candidates for the 
occupation of those free beds." 

A few days after the above was received, the Trustees were calleil 
too-ether at a special meeting to receive the announcement of a gift of 
$6,000 from Mrs. Sarah Gill to the city of Worcester, to be used under 
the direction of the Trustees in building a new pavilion or ward for 
male patients, in memf)ry of her husband, the late George W. Gill. In 



The Worcester of 1898. 249 

order to provide for a building of suitable proportions in connection with 
the Gill Ward, the gift of Mrs. Gill was supplemented in 1885 by one of 
$12,000 from Stephen Salisbury, Esq., one of the Trustees. 

In the will of the late Mrs. Helen C. Knowles, probated in 1884, was 
a gift of $25,000 for the maintenance of a ward in the City Hospital, " to 
be devoted to the treatment of poor women and children who are 
afflicted with incurable diseases; or for lying-in purpo.ses, in which latter 
case the principal may be used for building." The Trustees elected to 
make use of the bequest of Mrs. Knowles for lying-in purposes, and 
caused to be erected the spacious and finely equipped Knowles Maternity 
Ward. Through Mrs. Knowles' wise beneficence, the cit}' has been able 
to make excellent provision for the care and comfort of those for whom 
this charity was established. 

In 1886 a gift of $500 was received from Doctor Joseph .Sargent for 
the purpose of increasing the medical library of the hospital. In 1889 
Mrs. Sarah L. Hammond presented to the hospital a valuable library of 
about 250 volumes in a handsome black walnut case. This important 
acquisition was gratefully acknowledged, and the books were placed in 
the nurses' parlor. 

In 1892 the sum of $1,000 was received from the estate of the late 
Edwin Conant in accordance with a bequest in his will; also $5,000 from 
Mrs. Mary E. D. Stoddard, the income to be used for the benefit of 
patients, especially in providing "delicacies, flowers, drives, clothing, or 
other comforts which would not otherwise be generally furnished." 

In 1892 the unexpended balance of the Fourth of July fund of $868 
was given to the hospital. 

Under the provisions of the will of the late Elbridge G. Patridge, 
the hospital received in 1894 from his executor the sum of $1,000. 

In 1896 the sum of $2,631 was received from the estate of the late 
David M. Mclntire, in accordance with a clause in his will. 

On the 1 2th of March, 1895, Colonel .Samuel E. Winslow sent to the 
president of the Board of Trustees of the hospital a communication, in 
which he used these w^ords; "It is m\- desire to give to the Trustees of 
the Worcester City Hospital a sum of money not to exceed $10,000, to 
be used under the direction of your board for the construction and 
equipment of an operating department to be known as the Samuel 
Winslow Surgery," and he added that "the purpose of this offer is to 
establish a memorial to one who loved dearly the citj' of Worcester and 
never wearied in laboring for the welfare of its citizens." 

Sub.sequently to the sending of this communication, it becoming 
evident to him that the cost of what he had proposed would, under the 
accepted plans, very considerably exceed the sum he had named, he 
supplemented his first offer with another equally generous. He pro- 




EDWARD C. THAYER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 251 

posed, if agreeable to the Trustees, to assume himself all the care and 
responsibility of construction, equipment and cost, and to deliver the 
building to the board, completed and furnished, ready for occupancy, 
a proposal which was gratefully accepted. 

March 12, 1897, Mr. Edward C. Thayer of Keene, New Hampshire, 
offered to erect and present to the city a home for the Cit}' Hospital 
nurses, as a memorial of his sisters, Sarah Thayer Chapin and Louisa 
Thayer Chapin, who were successively the wives of the late Judge 
Chapin, mayor of Worcester in 1849, '5°. ^"d '70, at a cost to himself 
of not less than $35,000. The cost of the building finished and fur- 
nished exceeded $50,000. The City Council and Hospital Trustees 
gave hearty expression to Mr. Thayer of their appreciative sense of his 
timely and generous gift. Miss Margaret C. Chapin, a niece of Mr. 
Thayer, also made generous contributions towards furnishing the new 
home. Upon either side of the vestibule of this memorial building are 
appropriate and appreciative tablets of bronze. The tablet on the left 
side reads as follows: 



This Memorial Bu-ii,i>in<;, 

designed especially to be a home eor the nurses 

of the city hospital, 

and to afford accommodatio.n 

for the city hospital trainini; school for nurses, 

was erected and fl'rnished 

and given to the city of worcester, 

A. D. 1S97, BV 

MR. EDWARD C. THAYER 

OF KEENE, N. H., 

AND IS BV HIM AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO THE 

MEMORY OF HIS SISTERS — 

MRS. SARAH THAYER CHAPIN 

AND 

MRS. LOUISA THAYER CHAPIN, 

TO THE END THAT THE 

CHRISTIAN GRACES OF CHARITY AND BENEVOLENCE, 

SO CONSPICUOUSLY' MANIFESTED IN THEIR BEAUTIFUL LIVES, 

MAY BE FITLY HONORED AND PERPETUALLY COMMEMORATED IN THE CITY 

WHICH WAS SO LONG THEIR HOME. 



252 



The Worcester of if 




MEMORIAL HOME FOR NURSES. 
The tablet on the right reads: 

THIS TABLET IS PLACED HERE TO 
EXPRESS THE GRATITUDE OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE CITY HOSPITAL TO 

JIR. EDWARD C. THAYER 

FOR THE GIFT OF THIS NURSES' HOME. 

IN DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT THE BUILDING 

LEAVES NOTHING TO BE DESIRED. 

WITHIN AND WITHOUT 

IT REFLECTS THE GOOD TASTE AND WISE PHILANTHROPY OF THE GIVER, 

AND HONORS ALIKE THE CITY AND THE HOSPITAL. 

The City Hospital has received in gifts from individuals in twenty- 
seven 3-ears nearly $400,000. 

Soldiers' Monument. In 1867 a popular subscription to build a 
soldiers' monument on the Common resulted in securing the sum of 
$15,000, which, together with a grant of $35,000 from the City Council 
in 1 87 1, was sufficient to secure its erection. 

BiGELOW Monument. The Italian marble monument on the Com- 
mon which marks the last resting-place of the distinguished Revolu- 
tionary patriot, Colonel Timothy Bigelow, wks the gift in 1861 of his 
great grandson, Timothy Bigelow Lawrence. 



The Worcester of 1898. 253 

Dkwev Charity Fund. In 1S89 the Francis H. Dewey Charity 
Fund of $2,000 was given to the city, and the income tliereof to be 
spent for the poor and needy citizens on Thanksgiving day. 

Bancroft Endowment Fund. The Bancroft Endowment Fund, or 
the Aaron and Lucretia Bancroft Scholarship, was established in 1886 
by the gift of $10,000 from the late Honorable George Bancroft, in 
memory of his parents, "the income of the fund to be expended in 
aiding in the liberal education of some of our scholars, who from time 
to time shall be selected from the citizens of Worcester by a Board of 
Trustees." 

Bullock Medal Fund. In 1859 Honorable Alexander H. Bullock 
established the Bullock INIedal Fund by the gift of $1,000, the income 
of which was to be expended in silver medals to be awarded to merito- 
rious scholars of the high school. Of late years, by consent of the 
members of the family of Mr. Bullock, the income has been applied to 
the increase of the high school library, and the principal of the fund 
has been augmented by the gift of $500 from A. G. Bullock, Escj. 

Free Public Library. Towards the close of the year 1859, the late 
Doctor John Green and the Lyceum and Library Association offered to 
give, upon certain conditions, to the city, libraries containing respect- 
ively 7,000 and 4,500 volumes, to form the nucleus of a public library. 
The offer was accepted by the City Council, and an ordinance estab- 
lishing the Free Public Library was passed December 23 of the same 
year. Doctor Green, subsequently to his first gift, gave at different 
times about 5,000 more volumes. 

Doctor Green died in 1865, and left by will $30,000, to be designated 
as the Green Library Fund. One provision of the bequest was that one- 
quarter of the income from the fund should be added to the principal 
every year, and the remainder spent in the purchase of books for the 
reference department. This fund with its accretions now amounts to 
$49,834.71, and another bequest of Doctor Green, known as the Libra- 
rian's Fund, now amounts to $4,149. No income from this fund will be 
available until the accumulation of interest has made the principal 
$20,000. 

Reading-Room Fund. In 1865, mainly through the efforts of Honor- 
able George F. Hoar, the sum of $10,856.74 was raised by popular 
subscription for a reading-room fund, the income of which is used to 
provide reviews, magazines and newspapers for the Free Public Library. 

Gifts by Isaiah Thomas. November 3, 1806, it was 

I'otcd, That the town do approve and allow of a town way or street laid 
out by the Selectmen through the land of Isaiah Thomas, Esq.. and Captain 
Daniel Heywood, by the name of Thomas street ; and 




DOCTOR JOHN GREEN. 



The Worcester of ii 



255 



I'o/tc/, That the thanks of the town be given to Isaiah Thomas, Esq., for 
his generosity in giving the land for said street and building the bridge, and 
making the street in complete repair to be traveled on, without any expense 
to the town. 

November 14, 1831, the town voted to accept the bequest of Isaiah 
Thomas of the lot of land at the corner of Thomas and vSummer streets, 
with the condition that the town erect thereon "a large and handsome 
brick school-house or academ}'." 

Public Parks. " In 1 884, by virtue of arrangements perfected between 
themselves, by Honorable Edward L. Davis and Horace H. Bigelow, the 
city became owner in fee and free gift of 1 10 acres of forest and open 




HOME FARM. 

land lying along the westerly shore of Lake Quinsigamond, coupled with 
the further present, from Mr. Davis, of $5,000 to be expended in suitable 
surveys, plans, and work of development as needed. No gift could have 
been more timely for its influence upon the community, or welcome in 
itself. 

"To its resultant influence may be largely attributed the wonderful 
settlement along the shores of the lake, which, within a decade, has seen 
the occupation of almost every available building-site upon either shore, 
and the construction of a considerable village but a little way inland 
from Lake park. Subsequently, Mr. Davis caused to be built, by the 
famous Norcross Brothers, a stone tower, upon the loftiest point of 
observation in the park, so cyclopean in mass and method that its 
endurance may well challenge the worst ravages of time. The cost of 
that tower could not have been less than $8,000. 



256 



The Worcester of li 




ISOLATION HOSPITAL. 



" vStephen Salisbury, Esq., in 1887, convej'ed to the city, for use and 
enjoyment as a public park, some seventeen acres of most eligible land 
conveniently located along the southerly shore of {Salisbury pond, in 
perpetuit}', under certain restrictions that were duly accepted by the 
City Council. One condition was that it should be named and known 
as Institute park. Upon it Mr. Salisbury has expended, from his indi- 
vidual means, well nigh $50,000 in the erection of boat and summer 
houses, sanitary conveniences, thoroughly constructed drives, and exten- 
sive plantation. His interest in that park is unfailing, and his generosity 
continually manifests itself in constant effort to increase its attractions." 
— Edzvard Winsloiv Lincoln in iSgj. 

October i, 1890, Thomas H. Dodge, Esq., presented to the city a 
public ground in the northerly part of Worcester, comprising thirteen 
acres, situated between West Boylston and Burncoat streets, in the 
vicinity of the Odd Fellows' Home. This is known as Dodge park. 

The recent gift to the city by Charles D. Boynton of 130 acres of land 
in Paxton and Holden for a public park, sanitarium, or hospital, is a 
notable accession in this list of benefactions. The gift was accepted by 
vote of the City Council in October, 1898. 

Curtis Ch.\pei.. On the 31st day of January, 1890, Mr. Albert Curtis 
submitted to the Commissioners of Hope Cemetery plans for a stone 



The Worcester of li 



257 



chapel, to be erected on the grounds, and offered to build the same at 
his expense. The board accepted the donation by a vote of thanks. It 
was appropriately dedicated on the 31st day of January, 1891. Its cost 
was $12,000. 

Relief Funds. The citizens of Worcester have contributed to many 
public relief funds in the past, the first, perhaps, being in aid of the 
Greeks seventy or more years ago. Within the last eighteen years 
monev has been contributed to several such funds, as follows : 



Irish relief fund, iSSo, 
Forest fires in Michigan, 18S1, . 
Charleston earthquake sufiierers, 
Yellow fever sufferers, 1888, 
Conemaugh valley flood, 1889, . 
Armenian relief. 



1886. 



$3,964 
3,126 

2.759 

2,177 

15,696 

2,115 

S29,S;,7 




CURTIS CHAPEL, HOPE CEMETERY. 




ALFRED S. ROE. 



WORCESTER IN THE GENERAL COURT. 

By the Honorable Alfred S. Roe.* 



1^ JN aged gentleman, Mr. Peregrine B. Gilbert of 45 Chatham street, 
is the only survivor of the delegation elected to the General Court 
by the town of Worcester in 1847. He also had served the preceding 
year. Alexander H. Bullock served with him in the same years, with 
D. Waldo Lincoln in 1847, and Samuel Davis in 1848. Mr. Gilbert's 
vole helped secure the city charter, and during the intervening fifty 
years he has seen nearly 200 different Worcester men hold places in the 
popular branch of the Legislature. The city sent, for each of the first 
three years of her existence, a delegation of three men. In 1 8 5 1 the 
number was raised to five, and this continued till 1868, when one more 
was added, and six was the citys quota for the following nine years. 
In 1877 the new apportionment gave Worcester eight representatives, 
and that is the number to-da}', though the apportionment of 1 896 really 
entitled her to nine. Had the city then been divided into nine instead 
of eight wards, we should have gained a new member. Worcester has 
not always claimed all that she deserved. Just 169 men have repre- 
sented the Heart of the Commonwealth in her fifty years of city life, 
where the number might have been 320.-f- It is evident that many 
members have served more than one year; indeed, the average is nearly 
two years for every one. The longest term held by one man was that of 
James H. Mellen, fourteen ; the next that of Eugene M. Moriarty, eleven 
years. The oldest surviving member, in years, is John P. Marble of 
33 Harvard street, born in Charlton October i, 1806. He represented 
Charlton in 1840, and Worcester in 1865. 

In the .Senate there have been thirty-four different members from 
Worcester city, and of these just one-half had had previous experience 
in the House. While the majority of the senators held their positions 
but one year, very many served two. Three senators were elected for 
three years each, and one served four years. In 185 1 the senator from 



* See sketch in Biographical Department. 

f To bring these data to date, the Legislature of 1S9S is included, thus making the record 
that of fifty-one years. 



26o The Worcester of 1898. 

the district including Worcester was Colonel Alexander DeWitt of 
Oxford, later a representative in Congress, but he could hardly be 
classed with our Worcester delegation. As the city grew, she became 
a district by herself. In 1886 Wards 2 and 3 with towns to the north- 
ward, including the city of Fitchburg, became the Foiirth Worcester 
District, hence the city has at times had two members in the Senate. 
The redistricting of 1896 threw Wards i, 2 and 3 into the 2d Worcester 
District, having nine towns with these wards, and again Worcester had 
two senators. 

During our half century, Worcester furnished one speaker for the 
House, Alexander H. Bullock, 1862, '63, '64, '65, and two presidents of 
the Senate, H. W. Benchley, 1855, and Alfred S. Pinkerton, 1892 and '93, 
while J. B. D. Cogswell, who was a representative from this city in 1857, 
was president, 1877, '78. '79> ^^ that time a senator from the Cape Dis- 
trict. From the lists of representatives and senators, we can select one 
governor, Alexander H. Bullock, 1866, '67 and '68; four representatives 
in Congress, Eli Thayer, George F. Hoar, William W. Rice and Joseph 
H. Walker; one United States senator, George F. Hoar, 1877 — ; one 
judge of the .Supreme Court, Pliny Merrick; two judges of the Superior 
Court, Francis H. Dewey and P. Emory Aldrich; and no less than 
thirteen men who have been mayors of the city, viz., Peter C. Bacon, 
John S. C. Knowlton, Isaac Davis, Alexander H. Bullock, William W. 
Rice, P. Emory Aldrich, Edward Earle, George F. Verry, Edward L. 
Davis, Charles B. Pratt, E. B. Stoddard, S. E. Hildreth and Samuel 
Winslow. 

While the emoluments of the offices are not great, there has never 
been a dearth of candidates, all classes deeming the positions honorable 
ones. The record of contests is entertaining, for therein we may 
find that employer and employee were frequently pitted against each 
other, and the employer did not always win. In politics, till the forma- 
tion of the Republican party, this was a Whig city. Since then the 
large majority of legislators have been Republicans, though the massing 
of Democrats in Wards 3, 4 and 5 has nearly always, in later years, 
given to them representatives of their own politics. The first name of 
Irish origin in the list is that of Patrick O'Keefe, 1861. Only one Swede 
has been sent by the city to the capitol, A. Edwin Enberg, in 1897. 

In originating and securing salutary legislation, Worcester has done 
her part. As a rule, her representatives in both branches have worked 
in union unless separated by the demands of party politics, the latter 
condition, however, being infrequent. Usually the delegations have 
been able to speak for themselves, and the influence of the Heart of the 
Commonwealth has uniformly been one to be reckoned with, both for 
and against the manv measures that annuallv are submitted to the 



The Worcester of 1898. 261 

Legislature. While the great majority of members of the House ser\^e 
one }'ear only, the long terms accorded to those from Worcester have 
perceptibly added to their influence. 

While Worcester legislators have carefull}- followed the wants and 
needs of their own city, they have not been wanting in zeal for matters 
applying to the public generally. Indeed, were the laws pertaining to 
education, temperance, labor and ta:!vation which are owed to Worcester 
efforts to be stricken from the statutes, the blue book would be honey- 
combed. Very likely many would not regret the absence of many 
enactments referred to, but none the less they stand to-day as results 
of the effort of Worcester men in the Legislature of the Commonwealth. 

House, 1848-1898. 
1848 — Ale.K. H. Bullock, P. B. Gilbert, Samuel Davis. 
1849 — Peter C. Bacon, Albert Tolman, Charles White. 
1850 — John M. Earle, Albert Tolman, Charles White. 

1851 — John M. Earle, Charles Washburn, Benj. Flagg_ John F. Gleason, 
Edward Earle. 

1852 — George F. Hoar, Isaac Davis, John ^I. Earle, Putman W. Taft, 
John F. Gleason. 

1853 — Eli Thayer, Charles White, Edward Lamb, Henry W. Benchley, 
George W. Gill. 

1854 — Henry W. Benchley, H. H. Chamberlin, George W. Gill, Edward 
Lamb, Eli Thayer. 

1855 — Harrison Bliss, Daniel E. Chapin, Waterman A. Fisher, Austin L. 
Rogers, Putman W. Taft. 

1856 — Harrison Bliss, Elijah B. Stoddard, Putman W. Taft, George W. 
Russell, John H. Brooks. 

J857— J. B. D. Cogswell, Wm. T. Merrifield, De.xter F. Parker, George F. 
Thompson, Stephen P. Twiss. 

1858 — Albert L. Benchley, Ale.xander Thayer, Dexter F. Parker, James S. 
Woodworth, O. H. Tillotson. 

1859 — George Chandler, Albert Tolman, Henry C. Rice, Charles B. Pratt, 
Marcus Barrett. 

1S60 — Henry C. Rice, Benj. F. Otis. Samuel A. Knox, Joseph Pratt, 

Timothy S. Stone. 
,861— Alex. H. Bullock, Dexter F. Parker, Jos. D. Daniels, Benj. F. Otis, 

Patrick O'Keefe. 

1862 — Alex. H. Bullock, Delano A. Goddard, Jos. D. Daniels, Samuel 
Souther, John L. Murphy. 

1863 — Alex. H. Bullock, Warren Williams. Samuel Souther, Jerome A. 
Ladd, E. G. Warren. 

1864 — Alex. H. Bullock, Warren Williams, F. W. Wellington, George A. 
Brown, Edwin Draper. 

1865 — Alex. H. Bullock, George A. Brown, John P. Marble. Charles H. 
Ballard, Edwin Draper. 



v-iSW'fcfck 




ELLERY B^ CRANE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 263 

1866 — P. Emory Aldrich, Thos. E. St. John, Fitzroy Willard, M. J. 
McCafferty, Geo. R. Peckham. 

1867 — P. Emory Aldrich, Jonathan C. French, A. G. Goes, Geo. R. Peck- 
ham, John C. Bigelow. 

1868 — Delano A. Goddard, Warren Williams, Aaron G. Walker, Edward 
S. Stebbins, James S. Woodworth, Prescott A. Thompson. 

1869 — Warren Williams, Thomas L. Nelson, A. G. Goes, John Dean, Geo. 
M. Woodward, Welcome W. Sprague. 

1870 — John W. Wetherell, Daniel W. Bemis, Thomas Earle, Edwin T. 
Marble, Dorrance S. Goddard, Thomas Gates. 

1871 — Lewis Barnard, Charles L. Putnam, John S. Baldwin, Jos. R. Torrey, 
Thomas Gates, William Mulligan (Pa.xton). 

1872 — Lewis Barnard, John Gates, John S. Baldwin, Joseph R. Torrey, 
George P. Kendrick, Burton W. Potter. 

1873 — ^T. W. Wellington, John Gates, Samuel Winslow, Samuel E. Hil- 

dreth, Joseph H. Titus, Geo. P. Kendrick. 
1874 — T. W. Wellington, Samuel Winslow, Emory Banister, Jas. E. 

Estabrook, Andrew Athy, Thomas Gates. 

1875 — William W. Rice, Samuel R. Heywood, Enoch H. Towne, Andrew 
Athy, James E. Estabrook, Osgood Bradley, Jr. 

1876 — John W. Wetherell, Samuel R. Heywood, Osgood Bradley, Jr., John 
D. Washburn, M. |. McCafiferty, Jeremiah Murphy. 

1877 — Thos. J. Hastings, Samuel R. Heywood, John D. Washburn, John 
D. Lovell, Frank P. Goulding, M. J. .McCafferty. James H. Mellen, 
Cornelius O'Sullivan. 

1878 — Thos. J. Hastings, Wm. A. S. Smythe, Frank D. Leary, Philip 
Moore, James H. Mellen, Frank P. Goulding, John D. Lovell, John D. 
Washburn. 

1879 — Thos. J. Hastings, Wm. A. S. Smythe, Frank D. Leary, M. J. 
McCafferty, James H. Mellen. Jns. H. Walker, Calvin L. Hartshorn, 
John D. Washburn. 

1880 — Thos. J. Hastings, M. V. B. Jeft'erson, E. M. ^iloriarty, Francis 
Plunkett, John R. Thayer, Jos. H. Walker, Calvin L. Hartshorn. J. 
Marcus Rice. 

1881 — Aaron S. Walker, M. \'. B. Jefferson, E. ^I. Moriarty, Francis 
Plunkett, James H. Mellen, Asaph R. Marshall. Edwin Ames, Wm. L. 
Clark. 

1882 — Aaron G. Walker. Samuel A. Porter, E. :\I. Moriarty, David F. 
O'Connell, John R. Thayer, Asaph R. ^larshall. Edwin Ames, Wm. L. 
Clark. 

1883 — Aaron G. Walker, Forrest E. Barker, E. M. Moriarty, David F. 
O'Connell, James H. Mellen, Geo. H. Ball, Geo. E. Batchelder, Burton 
W. Potter. 

1884 — Aaron G. Walker. Forrest E. Barker, James Connor, John J. O'Gor- 
man, J. F. H. Mooney, Geo. H. Ball, Geo. E. Batchelder (resigned), 
Emerson Warner, Burton W. Potter. 



264 The Worcester of 1898. 

1885 — Aug. N. Currier, Henrj' M. Smith, John F. O'Connor, James J. 
Tierney, Jos. S. Perry, Loring Coes. Emerson Warner, Joseph Mason. 

1886 — Aug. N. Currier, Henry M. Smith, John F. O'Connor, James H. 
Mellen, Thos. W. Butler, Loring Coes, Henry L. Parker, Joseph Mason. 

1887 — Thos. G. Kent, Alfred S. Pinkerton, John F. O'Connor, Peter A. 
Conlin, Thos. W. Butler, Jos. H. Walker, Henry L. Parker, Wm. A. 
Gile. 

r888 — Jos. P. Cheney, Jr., Alfred S. Pinkerton, Peter T. Carroll, James H. 

Mellen, James M. Cmnin, John W. Plaisted, David Manning, Jr., Wm. 

A. Gile." 
i88g — Joseph P. Cheney, Jr., Alfred S. Pinkerton, Peter T. Carroll, James 

H. Mellen, James M. Cronin, John W. Plaisted, Wm. B. Sprout, 

Edward B. Glasgow. 

1890 — Henry C. Wheaton, Wm. H. Rice, E. M. Moriarty, Peter A. Conlin, 
Patrick J. Quinn, Franklin B. White, W. B. Sprout, Edward B. 
Glasgow. 

1891 — Henry C. Wheaton, Wm. H. Rice, E. M. Moriarty, James H. Mellen, 
Patrick J. Ouinn, Franklin B. White, Henry G. Taft, Geo. S. Clough. 

1892 — Alfred S. Roe, Jas. P. Crosby, E. M. Moriarty, James H. Mellen, 
Jas. F. Melaven, Henry J. Jennings, Henry G. Taft, Geo. S. Clough. 

1893 — Alfred S. Roe, Jas. P. Crosby, E. M. Moriarty, James H. Mellen, 
James F. Melaven, Henry J. Jennings (died during session), Henry Y. 
Simpson, Edward I. Comins, Eben F. Thompson. 

1894 — Alfred S. Roe, Wm. P. Searles, E. M, Moriarty, James H. 
Mellen, Jas. F. Melaven, Henry Y. Simpson, Joseph B. Knox, Eben 

F. Thompson. 

1895— Alfred S. Roe, W. P. vSearles, E. M. Moriarty, James. H. Mellen, 
Jas. F. Melaven, Ellery B. Crane, Joseph B. Knox, George H. Mellen. 

1896 — George M. Rice, Wm. P. Searles, E. M. Moriarty, James H. Mellen, 
Jas. F. Melaven, Ellery B. Crane, Willie C. Young, George H. Mellen. 

1897 — George M. Rice, Moses D. Gilman, E. M. Moriarty, Michael L. 
Russell, A. Edwin Enberg, Geo. W. Coombs, Willie C. Young, Charles 

G. Washburn. 

1898 — George M. Rice, Moses D. Gilman, Michael L. Russell, James 
F. Carberry, George W. Coombs, Charles R. Johnson, Charles G. 
Washburn. 

Senate, 1848-1S98. 

1848 — Alfred D. Foster. 

1849 — Alex. H. Bullock. 

1850 — Pliny Merrick. 
1851— Alex. DeWitt (Oxford). 
1852 — John S. C. Knowlton. 

1853 — John S. C. Knowlton and Charles Thurber. 

1S54 — Isaac Davis. 

1855 — Henry W. Benchley. 



The Worcester of 1898. 265 



f,^6 — Francis H. Dewey. 

857 — Geo. F. Hoar. 

858 — John M. Earle. , 

859 and i860 — Dexter F. Parker. 

861 — Ichabod Washburn. 

862 and 1863 — Hartley Williams. 
864 and 1865 — Elijah B. Stoddard. 
866, 1867 and 1868 — Lucius W. Pond. 

869 — Francis H. Dewey. 

870 — George M. Rice. 

871 and 1872 — Adin Thayer. 

873 — George F. Thompson. 

874 and 1875 — George F. Verry. 

876 — Edward L. Davis. 

877 and 1878 — George S. Barton. 
S79 and 1880 — Henry C. Rice. 
881 and 1882 — Thos. J. Hastings. 

883 — Charles B. Pratt. 

884 — John D. Washburn. 

885 and 1886 — M. V. B. Jefiferson. 
887 and 1888 — Edwin T. Marble. 

889 — Henry L. Parker. 

890 — Henry L. Parker, Alfred S. Pinkerton. 

891 and 1892 — John R. Thayer, Alfred S. Pinkerton. 
893 — Stephen Salisbury, Alfred S. Pinkerton. 

894 and 189s — Stephen Salisbury. 

896 — Alfred S. Roe. 

897 and 1898 — Ellery B. Crane and Alfred S. Roe. 




DOCTOR CHARLES A. PEABODY. 



SECRET SOCIETIES AND FRATERNAL 
ORDERS. 

By Charles A. Peabody, M. D.* 

I^_l STUDY of the growth of secret societies during this century, or 
^ since Worcester became a city even, could not fail to be of interest 
to the student of social movements as an indication of public opinion 
and one of the signs of the times. " We all believe in pledges and oaths 
now," says the distinguished president of a distinguished university; a 
statement in striking contrast to the popular sentiment of sixty or 
seventy years ago, when the false and furious diatribes of scheming 
politicians and time-servers against what the}' termed oath-bound socie- 
ties, alarmed the common conscience, and overwhelmed common sense 
in a mightv surge, whose retreating echoes, though faint, have hardly 
yet completely died away. 

An historical sketch of these societies in Worcester during the last 
half century, even though brief and general in its character, must of 
necessity include some notice of their origin and early history as well as 
of their purposes and character. 

Ot these organizations, the first in point of age and influence is the 
"Society of Free Masons," ^vhiL■h was introduced in Worcester in 1793, 
and was the sole occupant of the field for more than fifty years. In 
I.S44 the first lodge of Odd Fellows was organized, followed soon by 
some temperance organizations and the German Einigkeit, D. O. H. It 
was not, however, until several years later, or about the time of the 
Civil War and the vears immediatelv following, that the movement in 
this direction received the impetus that has carried it along with 
increasing strength and activitv, till now the lodges are legion, and 
the names on their roll are numbered by the tens of thousands. 

But Worcester is not peculiar in this growth. It extends over wide 
areas of our country; wherever, in fact, we find communities in the 
pushing ranks of progress and prosperity, there we find that these 
societies abound. It is one of the indications of the restless activity 



* See sketch in Biographical Department. 



The Worcester of 1898. 269. 

of the age, and tlie awakening desire for social and intellectual improve- 
ment. 

Many of these societies doubtless are ephemeral, but others doubtless 
will remain. Of some we may be sure that having come down to us 
through many generations, surviving with unimpaired but chastened 
vigor, trials from within and assaults from without, they will endure for 
generations yet to come, a soiirce of helpfulness to men, and blessing to- 
the world. 

For purposes of classification the secret societies in Worcester may be 
grouped under two general heads: 

I. The Purely Fraternal. 

II. The Beneficl\ry and Insurance Orders. 

Typical of the first group is the Society of Free Masons. This group' 
also includes the military fraternities, the Patrons of Husbandr\', and 
the various secret temperance organizations. 

Under the second group typical examples are the I. O. O. F. and the 
Royal Arcanum. Here also belong the trades unions, though many of 
the so-called labor unions can hardly be classed as secret societies. 

I. Free Masonry. Free Masonry was introduced into this country 
about theyear 1 730, and soon attracted to its standard many men who were 
destined to become prominent in fighting the battles and directing the 
course of our infant republic. Under the influence of these great names 
Masonry became popular, and when Isaiah Thomas founded Morning 
Star Lodge in 1793, he soon found more than a hundred of the leading' 
men of Worcester and vicinity read}- to join with him in the " mystic tie." 

On the 2d of August, 1824, the corner-stone of the Town Hall was 
laid by this lodge deep in the foundations of the building, where it lay 
buried in obscurity for more than seventy years, but upon the complete 
demolition of the building in 1898, it was discovered and brought to 
light. Its contents, a beautifully engraved silver disk and some coins, 
are now in the custody of the maj'or. The corner-stone of the new 
City Hall was laid by the Grand Lodge of I^Iasons of Massachusetts in 
September, 1896. 

In 1893 Morning Star Lodge celebrated its centennial anniversary and 
published a history of its hundred years. During that time more than 
1 ,000 names were added to its rolls, many of which are household words 
in the social, professional, civic and business life of the town and citj' 
of Worcester. 

In 1859 Montacute Lodge was instituted. Athelstan followed in 
1867, and Quinsigamond in 1871. These are all large and flourish- 
ing bodies, having an aggregate membership of more than 1,200. 

In 1824 Worcester Chapter of Royal Arch Ma.sons was instituted, the 
ceremony being held in the Old South Church, and included an address. 



The Worcester of 1898. 271 

"bv the Reverend i\Ir. Fuller. Eureka Chapter was chartered in 
1870. 

Worcester County Commandery, Knights Templars, was instituted in 
1 824, and is now one of the largest and most flourishing commanderies 
in the United States, while Hiram Council, R. & S. Masters, chartered 
in i8.?6, is said to be the largest body of its denomination in the world. 

The Lodge of Perfection, Goddard Cotmcil and Lawrence Chapter, 
Rose Croix, were all chartered between the years i860 and 1870, and 
belong to what is called the vScottish Rite, which, starting with the 
lodge, works out the Masonic ideas along a different line of development 
and ritual from that followed b}- the Royal Arch and Templar Orders. 

In addition to these bodies we must not forget to mention the Order 
of the Eastern Star, an adjunct but independent organization, composed 
of Masons and their wives and daughters. The Grand Chapter of this 
order for Massachusetts, organized in 1876, is located in this city, and 
here is located also one of its subordinates, Stella Chapter, No. 3. 

The Masonic Charity and Educational Association was incorporated 
in 1 896 for the purpose of erecting a Masonic temple, and administer- 
ing its revenues for charity and educational purposes. The Masonic 
Board of Relief has for its object the assistance of such needy Masons 
in Worcester as are not affiliated with either of the Worcester lodges, 
while the ]\lasonic Relief Association is supported by its members for 
insuring the lives of such Masons as may join it. Lender an entirely 
different organization and authority are the three bodies of so-called 
colored Masons, viz.. King David's Lodge, St. John's Chapter, and Mt. 
Zion's Commandery. These have all been organized during the last 
forty years, and are composed of men of African descent. 

2. The Grand Army, and Other Organizations. George H. 
Ward Post No. 10, G. A. R., whose membership is limited to veterans 
of the Civil War, was instituted in 1867. This is a very large and 
important post, and, with its auxiliary, the Woman's Relief Corps, has 
disbursed a large amount of money for the relief of its destitute mem- 
bers, a great deal of which has been raised by public entertainments 
given by the post, and in variovts other ways. There is connected with 
Post 10 an associate membership made up of prominent men who were 
not in the .service during the Civil War. The associates are not mem- 
bers of the post except by such nominal connection as is involved in 
paying annual dues for the benefit of the relief fund. 

The LTnion Veteran Legion, an offshoot of the G. A. R., has essen- 
tially the same purposes as the parent organization, but limits its 
membership to those veterans who were in actual battle or under the 
enemv's fire. 



272 



Thh Worcester of 1898. 



The Patrons of Husbandry and the various temperance societies bear 
names which sufficiently indicate their purposes and aims. They are 
designed also to promote good fellowship, and the mutual acquaintance 
and improvement of their members. The Patrons of Husbandry, which 
has drawn largely upon Worcester talent for its development and 
influence, has here two lodges or granges organized about twenty-five 
years ago. Both sexes are admitted to membership. 

H. Beneficiakv AM) Insurance Organizations. These are secret 
societies, each of which is subordinated to a State or grand lodge. 




LOVERS' LANE, LOVELL STREET. 



which in turn is allegiant to a national or supreme grand lodge. 
Many of them have an elaborate ritual of many degrees, and a large 
and enthusiastic membership. They all conduct either a sick benefit or 
a life insurance business, and in this way disburse large amounts of 
money, credited in some reports to the account of charity; some of 
them do, however, make donations from their funds to some cases of 
special need where a claim for benefits exists. This class of societies 
has been especially prolific during the last few decades, when assessment 
insurance in various forms has also flourished. It is impossible for us 
to mention all of these societies in Worcester even by name, and there- 
fore only typical examples will be noticed. 



The Worcester of 1898. 273; 

1. Those Paying Sick Benefits. The Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows is taken as the type of this class, because it is the oldest 
and largest of them all. This order originated in England about the 
middle of the last century. After many vicissitudes and changes, it wa.s^ 
reorganized in 1813, and soon became immensely popular. It was intro- 
duced into this country in 18 19, its first organization and Grand Lodge 
being in Baltimore. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Grand Lodge 
extends over the United States and Canada. The membership of the 
order within the United States alone is said to exceed 800,000. Each 
member of a lodge is assessed under the by-laws a certain sum annually, 
which is payable in quarterly installments, in consideration of which 
payments the lodge agrees to pay him in case of his sickness a certain 
specified sum weekly for not to exceed a stipulated length of time. If 
a member becomes in arrears for his quarterly payment, his claim for 
benefits at once ceases, but is revived upon his again becoming "square 
on the books." The amount of the benefit is much less than the usual 
income of a man able to follow his usual avocation, still it is necessary 
that claims should be investigated, hence it is made the business of 
certain members to officially visit the sick, and report their condition ta 
the lodge. Funeral benefits of small amounts are also given, but no life 
insurance is done by these lodges directly. Quinsigamond Lodge, the 
oldest in Worcester, was chartered in 1844. Worcester Lodge soon 
followed. Ridgel}', Anchoria, and Central Lodges came later, all within 
the last twenty-five years. Besides the lodges there are two semi-military 
organizations, which parade with uniform and side-arms, the Encamp- 
ment and the Patriarchs Militant. These are chartered by the Grand 
Lodge, as are also the Rebekah lodges, which admit the wives and 
daughters of Odd Fellows to membership. There are in Worcester two- 
encampments, one canton, Patriarchs Militant, and three Rebekah lodges. 

The Odd Fellows' ^Mutual Relief Association for life insurance, and 
the Ridgely Protective Association for accident and disability insur- 
ances, are organizations not officially under the control of the lodges, 
bi:t admitting only Odd Fellows to membership. 

The Odd Fellows' Home, which is owned and con trolled by the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts, is located in Worcester, its location here having 
been determined by the generous gift of a site for that purpose by 
Thomas H. Dodge, Esq. It is under the management of a board of 
trustees, of whom Nathan Taylor, Esq., has been from the beginning 
the Worcester member. The building is handsome and commodious, 
and the site is beautiful and commanding. 

2. Life Insiiranee Societies. These are all of recent origin, the earliest 
of them being hardly more than twenty-five years old. The Royal 
Arcanum boasts the largest membership, and possesses those features- 



2 74 



THE Worcester of 1898. 



in common with tlie others which make it a typical representative of its 
class. It conducts a life insurance business as its raison d'etre, and calls 
to the aid of that business the glamour which attaches to a secret society, 
and the enthusiasm for "the cause" which reduces expenses to the 
minimum by supplying, as a labor of love, that service which makes the 
largest item in the expense account of the "regular" insurance compa- 
nies. Its business is conducted on the assessment plan, and while no 
sick benefits are allowed, a council may yet provide against a member's 
■certificate lapsing during his sickness. The various organizations of 
this class in Worcester have in the aggregate a very large membership. 

The Improved Order of Red Men, introduced into Worcester in 1880, 
■combines the two schemes of sick benefit and life insurance. Every 
member has a claim for sick benefits the same as in the Odd Fellows, 
but the life insurance plan is a separate function, and is optional; it is 
carried on by means of special assessments as in the Royal Arcanum. 

This order is interesting because of its origin, and the peculiarities of 
its ritual, which is based upon the customs of the North American 
Indians, especially the Iroquois. The tribes usually bear an Indian 
name. The order was founded during the War of 1812 by the soldiers 
at Fort Mifflin, near Baltimore, for the purpose of promoting patriotism, 
harmony and good fellowship in the arm5^ This order has also a 
branch for the ladies, under the title of the Dautrhters of Pocahontas. 




WORCESitR COUUTi JAIL, SUMMER STREET. 



MILITARY MATTERS. 



|rj|jl|XE of Worcester's chief glories in the history of the last half 
JLBil century is the service of her sons in the war of the Union. 
In that great contest to preserve the life of the nation, the brilliancy 
of the record of their patriotism, bravery, and self-sacrifice is undimmed 
bv comparison with that of any other community in the land. The 
memory of the Worcester soldiers of 1861 to 1865 will ever be kept 
green by a grateful people, and fitting memorials of stone and bronze 
commemorate their valor. The beautiful Soldiers' iNIonument on the 
■Common was erected in 1874 at a cost of over $50,000. 

Post 10, Grand Army of the Reptiblic, named for General Ward, was 
■organized April 13, 1865. Between two and three thousand members 
have joined this post since its formation, and many thousand dollars 
have been dispensed in relief funds. The Woman's Relief Corps and 
the Sons of Veterans were formed in 1883, and the Daughters of 
Veterans in 1890, all auxiliary to the Grand Army. 

The history of Worcester in the war for the Union has been so often 
and so fully recited that a detailed account would be superfluous in this 
volume. The following references to printed authorities on this subject 
may, however, properly appear here : 

Reverend Abijah P. Marvin's "Worcester in the War of the Rebellion" 
is an interesting and valuable book, which gives a very full account of 
Worcester's part in sustaining the Union. Histories of the Fifteenth, 
Twenty-first, Twenty-fifth, Thirty-fourth, and Thirty-sixth Regiments 
have been published. "The Story of Company A, Twenty-fifth Regi- 
ment," by Samuel H. Putnam, has been widely noticed and much 
commended as a true picture of the daily life of a soldier; and the 
narrative of Amos E. Stearns, an Andersonville prisoner, has more than 
local interest. 

In the list of Worcester's martvrs in the Rebellion, the names of John 
William Grout, who fell at Ball's Blufl:": General George H. Ward, who 
fell at Gettysburg, and for whom the local Grand Army post was named; 
Thomas J. Spurr; S. F. Hayden, Jr.; Dexter F. Parker; Reverend Samuel 
Souther; the Wellingtons; the Bacons; Thomas O'Neil, and Henry Mc- 




SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 



The Worcester of 1898. 277 

Conville, are prominent. Of those who gained distinction in the conflict, 
Charles Devens, Josiah Pickett, William S. Lincoln and A. B. R. 
vSprague are well known. Worcester sent 3,927 men, counting each 
enlistment as one, to the war for the Union, at a total direct money cost 
of $586,054. Of this amount, $245,653 was paid for bounties and 
expense of recruiting; $93,650, commutation and substitutes; $246,751, 
state aid for families. 

Of Worcester military companies of to-day, the Light Infantry is the 
oldest, having been organized in 1804. The City Guards, organized in 
1840, is now attached to the militia. A history of this company has 
recently been prepared by Lieutenant Samuel Hathaway. The Emmet 
Guards were formed in i860. The Chamberlain Light Battery, Battery 
B, M. V. M., is of more recent organization, and the Wellington Rifles 
is a militia company formed in 1894. The new Armory building, 
at the junction of Salisbury and Grove streets, was completed in 1890 at 
a cost of nearly $125,000. 

The Worcester Continentals, the only independent company at present, 
paraded for the first time July 4, 1876. The uniform is nearly a fac- 
simile of that worn by Revolutionary soldiers, and the company always 
attracts much attention, and has gained a wide reputation. 

In the Spanish War of 1898, Worcester responded readily, four of her 
five militia companies entering the service. Battery B was as prompt 
for duty as the other organizations, but the government was unable to 
make use of light artillery in large force in that peculiar conflict, and 
after a brief absence on coast duty in the eastern part of the State, the 
Battery returned to Worcester. The limited field of operations, and the 
short duration of the war, prevented the acceptance of any other 
organized bodies from Worcester, although some attempts were made 
towards their formation. Recruiting for the regular army has been 
actively carried on during the present year. 

The Worcester Light Infantrj^, the City Guards and the Wellington 
Rifles were mustered into the United States service as Companies C, A 
and H, Second Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry. These companies 
left Worcester for Camp Dewey, South Framingham, ]\lay 3, and after 
a physical examination, such as were pronounced fit for duty were 
mustered in. On the 12th of May the regiment was transported to 
Lakeland, Florida, and later to Ybor City in that state. June 13th the 
Worcester men, as part of the Fifth Army Corps, sailed for Cirba, and 
landing on the 23d, marched to Siboney, and later to El Caney. From 
the first day of the engagements near Santiago, the Worcester com- 
panies were in active service, and at times under fire, until on the 14th 
of July the city surrendered. During the next month the men experi- 
enced great suffering from exposure, disease, lack of proper food and 



The Worcester of 1898. 279 

treatment, and large numbers succumbed to these and other adverse 
circumstances, aggravated by a tropical and unhealthy climate. The 
home-coming, from August 1 2 to 27, was accomplished under condi- 
tions extremely iinfavorable to men in weak physical state, and several 
died on the way. Worcester gave a royal welcome to her returning 
soldiers on the 27th of August, and again, on the 31st of October, 
the four companies received another ovation from their fellow citizens. 
Of the three companies, comprising 231 men, but 113 wei^e able to- 
appear on August 27th. 

The Emmet Guards departed on the 4th of May, and their muster-in 
as Company G, Ninth Massachusetts Regiment, took place at South 
Framingham on the i ith. On the 31st, the regiment left for Virginia, 
and .sailed for Cuba June 26th, landing on the island July ist. During 
the next four days the Emmets took part in the fighting, and until the 
surrender of Santiago remained in the trenches. The experience of this 
company was of the same nature as that of the other Worcester volun- 
teers, but the return was deferred for a few days after the departure of 
the Second Regiment. The details of the homeward voyage, the stay 
at Montauk Point, and the privations and sufferings of the men, are not 
to be entered into here; nor can the circumstances or conditions to 
which they were subjected be properly criticised in this brief account. 
The war is over, the country is again at peace; but the sacrifice has 
been costly, and the consec^uences will long be felt. 

Three M.\rtvrs. 

The circumstances attending the death of Lieutenant Edmund N. 
Benchley, who was killed at San Juan, are similar in a certain degree to 
those connected with the fall in battle of two others, Lincoln and Grout, 
martyrs of different wars. All three were Worcester-born. Each was 
in the thick of the fight when the fatal bullet struck, and the untimely 
fate which overtook them has called forth the most sincere expression 
of private regret and public eulogy. The personal bravery and soldierly 
qualities of all three are unquestioned. 

Captain George Lincoln, killed in the battle of Buena Vista, was a son 
of ex-Governor Levi Lincoln, and was thirty-one years of age at the time 
of his death. He was struck by a shot in the back of the head " when 
facing a regiment, riding in front, and encouraging them on at a critical 
moment when they were faltering under a severe fire. His situation 
was a most exposed one, a situation which it would have been mere 
foolhardiness to take except under the circumstances of this battle, 
where our troops were chiefly volunteers, and all depended on the 
officers. Lincoln was acting as adjutant-general, and had no command 




CHARLES DEVENS. 



The Worcester of 1898. 




JOHN WILLIAM GROUT. 



of the regiment, but seeing them falter, 
lie rode in front and cheered them on by 
example as well as b}' word."* No 
portrait of Lincoln is in existence. 

Lieutenant John William Grout, who 
fell at Balls Bluff October 21, 1861, 
was born in Worcester in 1843, 'ir'd had 
barely attained the age at which a legal 
claim could be made upon his services 
when he fell a voluntary sacrifice on the 
altar of his countr\-. He was the only 
son of Jonathan Cjrout, Esq., and early 
manifested signs of a military spirit, by 
which he was animated. He was 
educated at the Highland Military 
School, and after enlistment his serv- 
ices were in demand in drilling volunteers. He received a commission 
as second lieutenant in Company D of the famous Fifteenth Massa- 
chusetts Regiment, and gained the confidence and friendship of his 
company and the whole regiment. In the battle in which he fell, his 
valor was conspicuous, and in the last hour his coolness, discretion and 
generosity did not forsake him. He crossed the stream in a boat with 
the wounded, and returned for more, and, dispatching the second boatful, 
remained upon the shore until hope of further successful resistance van- 
ished. He then plunged into the 
stream, but before he could reach 
the opposite shore the fatal ball 
of the barbarous assassin left him 
only time and strength to exclaim : 
"Tell Company D that I should 
have escaped, but I am shot." t 

Lieutenant Edmund Nathaniel 
Benchley was born in Worcester 
March 3, 1876. He was educated 
in the public schools, and was 
appointed a cadet at West Point by 
Congressman Walker, graduating 
with the class of 1898. He was 
at once commissioned as second 
lieutenant, Sixth Infantrv, United 



* General William B, Franklin, 
t Extracted from a memorial by Rev- 
erend E. Cutler. 




EDMUND NATHANIEL BENCHLEY. 




GEORGE H. WARD. 



The Worcester of 1898. 283 

States Army, -preferring the infantry to -the artillery or cavalry service, 
as it promised better opportunities in the Cuban War for active dut}-. 
He proceeded to Florida in May, and with the regulars landed in Cuba 
the latter part of June, where the active engagement of that short 
campaign soon followed. On the first day of July the battle of Fort 
San Juan took place. In crossing the San Juan river, under a severe 
artiller}- fire, several companies were separated from the advance 
portion of the troops, and the colonel desired them to be brought up at 
once. 

"He called Lieutenant Benchley, and directed him to recross the river 
and carry orders to the battalion and company commanders to bring 
their commands forward at once. He started at once on this important 
and dangerous duty, and gave the orders to some of the officers indi- 
cated. He had just given it to one commander when he received a 
bullet through the heart, killing him instantly. 

" His military career was brief, brave and glorious. He was cool and 
brave under one of the severest fires ever known, and he performed his 
duty nobly and gallantly. Had he lived he would have been brevetted 
for gallantry in action."* 



•Letter of Captain L. \V. V. Kennon, Company E, Sixth Infantry, U. -S. A., to the 
father of Lieutenant Benchlev. 




REVEREND A. Z. CONRAD. 



PROTESTANT CHURCHES. 

By Reverend A. Z. Conrad, Ph. D., D. D.* 

|HE relation of religion to political, social and industrial prosperity 
and progress is vital. Eminence and ethics are wedded. What- 
ever elevates the morale of a community is a distinctively productive 
force. The debt of the State to the church is incalculably great. Civic 
righteousness depends on piiblic sentiment. Public sentiment is a 
product, The church is the chief procuring and producing cause of 
exalted civic ideals. The true civic ideal is a clean citizen in a clean 
city. New England histor}- is in evidence that a vigorous tj-pe of 
Christianity insures a heroic type of citizens and progressive common- 
wealths. 

The earl}' history of Worcester is indissolubly linked with the 
activities of the church. Did the limits of this sketch permit, it 
would be intensely interesting to introduce historic witnesses in the 
nature of epoch-making incidents and events in demonstration of the 
proposition that Worcester churches have been the chief factor in her 
educational, industrial and political progress. 

The influence of the churches in Worcester is prodigious. They are 
the prime movers in every social reform. They inculcate the doctrines 
and principles of civic righteousness. They are the great conservators 
of moral health. They are the first to protest against lawlessness. 
They encourage and enjoin every public and private virtue, and con- 
demn every vicious tendency. They develop a sentiment which is 
mandator}"- against organized iniquity, and prevent the encroachments 
which avariciousness and imperiousness would otherwise practise with 
impunity. 

The churches of Worcester constitute the backbone of every philan- 
thropic effort. Directly or indirectly, they furnish the money for every 
redemptive institution and agency in Worcester. 

Restoration, reclamation, and edification are the watchwords of 
Worcester churches. Worcester people are a church-going people. 
As compared with other cities of its size, our city is reverential and re- 
spectful in its attitude toward religion. As a result, its moral tone is high. 
*See sketch in Biographical Department. 



286 



THE Worcester of li 



Denominational lines mark preferences rather than prejudices and 
prohibitions. Sectarian bigotry is rare. Unity in reform movements is 
practiced. Divisions are lost in the consideration of important public 
questions. The denominational church life is marked by commendable 
zeal. There is emulation without envy. There is more of cooperation 
than competition. 

An important and prominent feature of the church life of the city is 
the Sunday school work. The past decade has witnessed an immense 




OLD SOUTH CHURCH. 



advance on all previous periods in Bible study in Worcester. Sunday 
schools are conducted on a higher plane. New methods are adopted and 
zeal has immensely increased. 

While Worcester churches are inclined to be conservative, yet no- 
where else have the progressive features of modern church life had freer 
application. Organizations find splendid expression. The spirit of 
institutionalism is rationally applied. The world-wide movements 
among young people have in Worcester vigorous representative bodies. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



287 



The Old South Church is much the oldest church organization in 
Worcester, antedating all others by seventy years. The early history 
of Worcester is very largely the history of this church. Its present 
elegant edifice was completed in i88g at a cost of $r 60,000. Its mem- 
bership, the largest in the city, is 945. 




CENTRAL CHURCH. 



Worcester churches of to-day appreciate their heritage ; are true to 
the principles and traditions of the fathers, and under the inspiration of 
divine promise, and obedient to heavenly visions, they engage aggres- 
sively to fulfill their sacred mission in our beloved city. 

The Protestant churches of Worcester of every denomination number 
sixty-nine. Of these sixt3--four are evangelical. They are divided as 
follows : 



^^^^^^K«iH 


^^H ^^^^H 


^^^^^^B : 


TjH,. 


^^^^■j^v^ 


H 


m 





REVEREND ARCHIBALD McCULLAGH. 



The Worcester of i{ 



289 



Organized 


Membership. 


Pastor. 






Churcli. 


s. s. 


C. E. 




Armenian, 


1S97 








M, V. Papaziantz. 


Baptist. 












First, 


1812 


500 


507 


110 


Spencer B. Meeser. 


Pleasant Street, 


1 84 1 


341 


268 


78 


Woodman Woodbury. 


Main Street, 


1853 


315 


198 


51 


Leo Boone Thomas. 


Dewey Street, 


1872 


226 


-3- 


73 


0. E. Mallory. 


First Swedish, 


18S0 










Lincoln vSquare, 


1881 


502 


442 




Frank D. Penney. 


John Street, 


1885 


76 


46 


*6o 


Hiram Conway. 


South, 


1886 


206 


199 


35 


T. Richard Peede. 


Adams Square, 


1S89 


106 


164 


52 


J. S, Holmes. 


Quinsigamond (Branch 












of First), 


1891 


45 


5° 


19 


vS. B. Meeser. 


Oak Hill (Branch of 












Pleasant Street), 


1893 


36 


53 


27 


Arthur St. James. 


Harlem Street, 


1S96 


165 


325 


3° 


Carl W. Sundmark. 


Oreendale, 


1897 


41 


165 




Guy F. Wheeler. 


French Mission, 


1890 


ss 


49 




Arthur St. James. 


First Free, 


1881 


118 


118 


t56 


Albert C. Thompson. 


Cliristadclpliians. 












Cliristadelphian Society, 




71 


35 




Isaac N. Jones. 


Worcester Ecclesia of 












Christadelphians, 


i860 


19 


12 




Fred C. Walton, Sec. 


Congregational. 












First Parish, 


I 7 IS 


945 


985 


254 


Arcturus Z. Conrad. 


Central, 


1820 


443 


532 


62 


Daniel Merriman. 


l^nion, 


1836 


761 


5 79 


98 


John E. Tuttle. 


Summer Street, 


1865 


1 20 


129 


27 


Orange C. Bailey. 


Plymouth, 


1869 


776 


575 


85 


Archibald McCullagh. 


Piedmont, 


1872 


705 


610 


141 


Willard Scott. 


F'irst Swedish Evang., 


1880 


350 


400 


75 


August L. Anderson. 


Pilgrim, 


1885 


639 


784 


230 


Alexander H. Lewis. 


Church of the Covenant, 


1885 








John E. Hurlbut. 


Park, 


1887 


235 


289 


46 


Inman L. Willcox. 


Belmont, 


1889 


138 


291 


119 


Dr. Mix in charge. 


Hope, 


1889 


188 


297 


92 


E. W. Phillips. 


Lake View, 


1890 


65 


130 


75 


John H. Matthews. 


Bethany, 


1891 


91 


125 


45 


Albert G. Todd. 


Norwegian and Danish, 


1892 


17 








Armenian, 


1S92 


35 


25 


15 


Hachadoor G. Benneyan 


Immanuel, 


1893 


ii8 


175 


48 


George S. Dodge. 


Second Swedish, 


1894 


170 


227 


46 


John Udd. 


Greendale People's, 


1895 


66 


88 


65 


Gavin H. Wright. 


Adams Square, 


1898 


91 


170 


25 


John E. Dodge. 



^ Young People's Union. 



t Voung People's .Societ}-. 



The Worcester of 1898. 

Pastor. 
Austin S. Garver. 
George W. Kent. 
64 Roland A. Nichols. 

85 Erik J. Nystrom. 



290 

Org.\nized. Membershii'. 

Unitarian. churci. s. s. c. e 

Second Parish, 1785 450 125 

Church of the Unity, 1846 150 iio 
South Unitarian, 

Disciples of Christ 
Church of Christ, 

Friends. 
Society of Friends, 

Lutheran. 
Swedish Evangelical 
Norwegian, 
Finnish Evangelical, 
First German Evang., i888 50 
Swedish Evangelical 

Immanuel, 1896 147 

Methodist. 
Trinity, 1834 672 760 t3°8 George W. King 

* Young People's Society. f Epworth League. 



1890 


I 20 


100 


i860 


375 


230 


1837 


60 


45 


1 88 1 


35° 


185 


1886 






1894 


155 


14 



Mikki Havukainen. 
H. Steger. 

*3o Frans A. Engstrand. 




UNION CHURCH. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



291 



Or. 


,\NI7.F.l 


MkMBI'KSHII', 


Pastor. 


Methodist — Co n t i n u e d . 




Church. 


s. s. 


C. E. 




Laurel Street, 


1845 


175 


224 


*8o 


H. H. Paine. 


Webster Square, 


i860 


219 


250 


*5o 


L. William Adams. 


Grace, 


1867 


384 


300 


*i77 


William J. Thompson 


Coral Street, 


1872 


140 


150 


*9o 


George E. Sanderson. 


First Swedish, 


1879 


380 


400 


*7o 


Henry E. Whyman. 


Second Swedish, 


1885 


376 


235 


*IOO 


Nels Eagle. 


Park Avenue, 


1891 


163 


272 


*S7 


Alonzo .Sanderson. 


Lake View, 


189I 


44 


44 


*3° 


Alonzo Sanderson. 


African M. E. Zion, 


1846 


125 


169 


*IOO 


Louis H. Taylor. 


Bethel African, 


1867 








R. J. H. Taylor. 


Presbyterian. 












First. 


1886 


163 


95 


36 




First United, 


1895 


80 


70 


60 


Robert Hughes. 


f. pise opal. 












All Saints', 


1843 


609 


401 




Alexander H. Vinton. 


St. Matthew's, 


1871 


340 


40S 




Henry Hague. 


St. John's, 


1884 


200 


J 25 




Eliot White. 


St. Mark's, 


1888 


176 


1 10 




Willis H. Hazard. 


St. Sigfrid's, Swedish, 


1893 


200 






J. Hugo Klaren. 


Second Advent. 












Second Advent Christian, 


184I 


238 


145 




William A. Burch. 


( niversa/ist. 












First, 


I84I 


33° 


600 


ti35 


Almon Gunnison. 


All Souls', 


1884 


93 


300 


t85 


Moses H. Harris. 



It will be seen that the denominational strength is a 

Armenian, 

Baptist, 

Baptist. Free, 

Christadelphians, . 

Congregational, 

L'nitarian, 

Disciples of Christ, 

Friends, 

Lutheran, 

]\Iethodist Episcopal, 

Methodist, African, 

Presbyterian, 

Protestant Episcopal, 

Total membership of Sunday scht 

Y. P. S. C. E. membership, . 

Epworth League membership. 



s follows : 



2617 
118 



90 
6042 



60 

702 

-554 

^43 

'5^5 

■5-599 

2214 

1062 



* Epworth League. f Young People's Society. ]: Young People's Christian Union. 




RIGHT REVEREND THOMAS GRIFFIN. 



CATHOLICITY IN WORCESTER. 



|EVENTY-TW0 years ago the first Catholics came to Worcester. 
They were chiefly Irish immigrants, and were brought here by 
the contractors of the Blackstone canal. This work was in progress 
two years, and many of the laborers settled in town. As time went 
on and the number of Catholics increased, they felt the need of their 
religion to enable them to combat the difficulties that surrounded them 
in their new home, and accordingly petitioned Bishop Fenwick to send 
them a priest. 

In response to this appeal, the bishop, in 1834, appointed the Rev- 
erend James Fitton to visit the Catholics of Worcester once a month. 
The joy that filled the hearts of those early settlers at this welcome 
news can well be imagined. Father Fitton, at the time of his appoint- 
ment, was journeying through the scattered settlements of New 
England, where, in God's own time, "little churches with devout 
congregations rose to show where his feet had rested." 

The holy sacrifice of the mass was first offered in this city in the 
old stone building on Front street which now stands west of the 
viaduct. When Father Fitton visited his little flock in Worcester, the 
people gathered about him and heard mass as devoutly, wherever it 
was said, as if they were in a consecrated temple. It often happened 
that in pleasant weather, masses were said on the large rocks near the 
entrance to the "deep cut" on the Boston & Albany railroad. 

( )n such occasions a rude altar would be erected on the side of the 
rock, with spruce boughs, brought by willing hands from the woods, 
hung overhead. 

There in nature's own cathedral worshiped the pioneers of Cath- 
olicity in Worcester. During one of these outdoor masses a storm 
came up. At the first sign of its approach, three of the congregation 
hastened to procure umbrellas. These they held over Father Fitton, 
and moved as he moved in the progress of the mass. The kneeling 
congregation was thoroughly drenched, yet not one of the devout 
assembly moved. 

The foundation of Christ's Church, the first Catholic church in 
Worcester, was laid July 6, 1834, and to the great joy of the people, 



294 



The Worcester of 1898. 



Father Fitton was made pastor. It was a small wooden building, and 
after some years was removed to another part of the church grounds, 
received additions, and became the "Catholic Institute." In this year 
also (1834) the Catholics purchased their first burying-ground. 




PLYMOUTH CHURCH. 

Every summer during Father Fitton's time, some of the Penobscot 
Indians, among whom he had labored in Maine, came to Worcester, 
and pitched their tents at the foot of the street where the rolling-mill 
now stands. They assisted at the mass with great devotion, and after 
service was over, thev liked to gather in a circle around the church 



The Worcester of 1898. 



295 



(lonr. and there, kneeling, await the cinning of the priest. Father 
Fitton, who knew their customs, would, as he passed, lay his hands 
upon each bowed head in silent benediction. They were then satisfied, 
and returned to their camp. 




PIEDMONT CHURCH. 

In 1837 two schools were established by the pastor: one for children 
in the basement of the church, the other for the instruction of boys in 
the higher branches of education. The latter was situated on Paka- 
choag hill and called Mt. St. James Seminary. To this humble begin- 
ning and to the zeal and generosity of Father Fitton we are indebted 
for our cherished Holv Cross College, which to-dav rests "like a beau- 



296 



The Worcester of 1898. 



tiful coronet on the queenly brow of Pakachoag hill above our busy 
cit\'.'" The corner-stone of this splendid institution was laid June 21, 
1843, and at the call of Bishop Fenwick, the Fathers of the Society of 
Jesus took charge, with Reverend Thomas F. Mulledy as president. 
The college is now in a flourishing condition, having 250 students, all 
the modern equipments for gymnasium, etc., and a library of over 




PILGRIM CHURCH. 

13,000 volumes. Soon after the celebration of its (xolden Jubilee, Holy 
Cross College, under the rectorship of Father William I. McGurk, 
began to assume its present magnificent proportions. The immense 
labor attending the enlargement of the college was too great a strain 
for his delicate health. He died like a brave soldier, holding to his 
post in the last extremity. At his death, the vice-president. Reverend 



The Worcester of 1898. 297 

John F. Lehy, was appointed to fill out the remainder of Father 
McGurk's term. So well and so ably has Father Lehy performed the 
duties of his office, and so acceptable is his administration to both laity 
and clergy, that the father general of the Society of Jesus has at this 
writing reappointed him rector for three years. In the same year, 
much to the regret of his parishioners, Father Fitton was removed from 
Worcester. He was succeeded by Father Williamson, who labored 
with his new people but eighteen months, when death claimed him. 

Meanwhile the little congregation of Christ's Church had been 
steadily increasing. Father Gibson, who succeeded to the pastorate 
after the death of Father Williamson, was in favor of building a new 
church large enough to accommodate the parishioners, and it was 
finally decided that "a new, large and respectable church be erected 
on the site of Christ's Church." 

On the 27th day of May, 1845, the fotindation stone of the new 
church was laid. The plate of the old church was taken from its place 
and put in the corner-stone with the new one for .St. John's. As the 
years went on, missions were established in the towns around Worces- 
ter, which were attended by priests from St. John's, but it was not 
until 1854 that the little Church of the Evangelist, under the energetic 
lead of Father Gibson, planted a sapling in the town of Worcester 
itself. Then the "old vSt. Anne's" rose, in the bastern part of the city, 
with Reverend John J. Power as first pastor. 

Father Boyce, who came to Worcester in 1847, and who is so well 
remembered by the early Catholics of this city, passed to his reward 
on January 2, 1864. All mourned the noble-hearted priest, "for his 
sway was the sway of love; his rule the golden rule." He was an 
eloquent lecturer, a fine musician, and, as " Paul Peppergrass," had 
made for himself an enviable name in the world of letters. 

On October 24, 1864, the Convent of Our Lady of Mercy was founded 
in Worcester from St. Catherine's Convent of Mercy in New York. 
The Sisters were brought here by Very Reverend J. J. Power, D. D., 
V. G., who was at that time pastor of St. Anne's Church. In October, 
1872, the convent was removed to High street, St. Paul's Parish, and 
designated St. Gabriel's. An orphanage for boys and girls was opened 
in January, 1875. About eighty children are accommodated at the 
present time, supported in part bv a weekly pension and the charitable 
aid which is received from time to time. A House of Mercy was 
opened February 16, 1897, at 34 High street, where situations are 
obtained for those out of employment, and young women of character 
are lodged. In addition to the caring for these institutions, the Sisters 
also visit the sick and poor in their homes. The orphanage is the 
■cherished charge of Very Reverend J. J. Power, L^. U., V. G., whose 



The Worcester of 1898. 




ALL SAINTS' CHURCH. 

priestly qualities, noted by an observino- public in his long years of 
residence in Worcester, have won for him the love and esteem of all, 
Protestants as well as Catholics. 

In July, 1867, the present pastor of St. John's, Right Reverend 
Monsignor Griffin, came to Worcester to assist Father O'Reilly, later 
Bishop O'Reilly, who had succeeded Father Boyce. In Ji:ly, 1 869, the 
corner-stone of St. Paul's Church on Chatham street was laid. The 
next ten years saw the rise of several Catholic churches in Worcester. 
In 1870 the Alethodist Church on Park street was bought bv the French 



The Worcester of 1898. 



299. 



Catholics. Reverend J. Primeau was appointed pastor, and the first 
mass was said in June. The parish is now in a flourishing condition, 
under the pastoral care of Reverend J. Brouillet. In the same year, 
on the removal of Father O'Reilly to Springfield, Father Griffin was- 
put in charge of St. John's. 

Tuesday, August 27, 1872, the community of Notre Dame, consisting 
of eight members, came to Worcester at the request of Father Griffin 
to take charge of his school for girls. The Bigelow estate on Vernon 
street had been purchased some time before and fitted up as a resi- 
dence for the Sisters, and the year following their arrival a fine 
brick school-house was erected on the convent grounds. From such 
.small beginnings great things have sprung, great triumphs have been 
achieved. To-day there are thirty-two Sisters caring for 1,000 children,. 




ST. MATTHEW'S CHURCH. 



-300 



The Worcester of 1898. 



.affording them all that is best in religious education, and providing 
in unstinted degree for the requirements of secular learning. An 
accumulated library of 5,000 volumes of choice and varied literature is 
at the service of the scholars, who are constantly stimulated to the full 
■exertion of their talents. 

In the same year Reverend Denis Scannell was made pastor of vSt. 
Anne's Church on Shrewsbury street. A few years later it was found 
that the church was inadequate to the wants of the growing congrega- 




SOUTH UNITARIAN CHURCH. 



The Worcester of 1898. 3or 

tion. The pastor procured a new lot on a much more elevated and 
elig^ible site. In 1885, to his great joy and that of his congregation, 
he offered the holv sacrifice of the mass on one of the highest summits- 
of our hill-crowned city. From its eminence on the brow of Normal 
hill the new St. Anne's presents a striking appearance, bearing aloft 
I he symbol of man's redemption into the sunlight of heaven, and 
reflecting its cheering ray into the heart of the Christian beholder. 

The Parish of the Immaculate Conception was organized in Novem- 
ber, 1873, and the church, begun in the same 3'ear, owing to the con- 
stant care and unceasing toil of the pastor, Reverend Robert Walsh, 
was completed four years later. 

(Jn July 2, 1879, the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, 
the first excavations were made for the building of the Sacred Heart 
Church, and on September 2 1 , the corner-stone of the church was laid 
by Bishop O'Reilly. 

The Church of the Sacred Heart continued under the protecting care 
of St. John's until the 24th of January, 1880, when Reverend Thomas- 
). Cunaty, then curate of vSt. John's, was appointed pastor of the new 
!>arish. During his pastorate Father Conaty showed in a high degree 
Ills organizing power. Georgetown University honored him with the 
doctorate, and at his entrance upon the duties of rector of the Catholic 
university, in January, 1897, the holy father raised him to the rank of 
domestic prelate, conferring the title of right reverend. Doctor Conaty 
was succeeded in his pastorate by his brother. Reverend Bernard Conaty. 

In September, 1881, the Sisters of St. Anne came to Worcester from 
their mother house in Lachine, Canada, and opened a school for the 
French Catholic children in Notre Dame Parish. So marked has been 
their success that to-day the Sisters have three houses of their order in 
the city and as many schools. 

In 1 884 was celebrated the Golden Jubilee of Christ's Church. 
This event was marked bv large and extensive additions to vSt. John's- 
Church. 

Father O'Neill, the pastor of St. Peter's, commenced the work of 
organizing the parish in January, 1884, by assembling the people for 
divine worship in a house on Canterbury street. So ready and eager" 
wcre they for the ercclion of the new church that in vSeptember, 1884,. 
the corner-stone was laid by Bishop O'Reilly. The sermon on the 
occasion was preached by Reverend R. S. J. Burke. 

The growth of the parish and its prospective needs have warranted 
the pastor to purchase, this year, a convent for the Sisters of St. Joseph 
as a preliminary to the establishment of parochial schools. 

In Januarj% 1887, St. Joseph's ^Mission was established on Wall street,, 
under the pastorate of Reverend Jules (rraton. 



302 



The Worcester of li 



The pastor of St. John's in January, 1887, purchased a house and two 
and a half acres of land at the head of Grafton street as a site for 
•church, rectory, schools, and convent for a new parish. In February of 
that year, Reverend R. S. J. Burke was called from Westborough 
±0 organize and take charge of the new parish. 






ST. JOHN'S CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



The first gathering of the Hock was in the Wall street school-house. 
It required no ordinary courage to face the difficulties which presented 
themselves, but Father Burke moved on fearlessly, yet trustingly, in 
the Master, and had the proud satisfaction of seeing .St. .Stephen's 
Church built and completed in the September following. He was 
.succeeded by the present pastor. Reverend D. F. McGillicuddy. 



The Worcester of 1898. 303 

On Jul_v 30, 1889, the holy father appointed Reverend Thomas Griffin 
a domestic prelate. In conjunction with this honor, the Seminary of 
St. Mary's, Baltimore, conferred the degree of doctor of divinity, and a 
papal brief bestowed on him the title of monsignor. 

The Sisters of Charity, "Gray Nuns," came to Worcester Januarv 31, 
1S91. to take charge of an orphanage containing ninety children. The 
building at first occupied was a two-tenement house on the corner of 
Southgate and Crrand streets. After a period of two years, the .Sisters 
and their little charges were transferred to their present location on 
Granite street. There are fourteen Sisters in the institution and 200 
children, mostly orphans. There are two Sisters daily collecting for 
the little ones, and donations of provisions or clothing are always 
thankfully received. 

On the 28th of May, 1892, the mournful tolling of the bell of St. 
John's and the bells of the other Catholic churches of Worcester, 
*innoi:nced to the Catholics in the city that their bishop was no 
more. 

The rushing tide of memory brought back in vivid light the beautiful 
traits of character displayed by Bishop O'Reilly in all his years of con- 
nection with Worcester, and especially with St. John's, as curate, pastor, 
bishop. Always kind and gentle, at home with young and old, ready 
with word of pleasantry, of sympathy, of solace, of cheer, of comfort, he 
was in very deed the " vSoggarth Aroon." The love and affection of the 
people for their deceased prelate were shown in a marked degree by the 
large concourse that assembled at St. John's, on the 30th of Mav, to 
assist at the solemn requiem mass. 

On November 21, 1892, St. John's new hall was opened to the public 
for the first time, (^n the evening of that day the Catholics of Worces- 
ter assembled to welcome their new bishop, Right Reverend Thomas 
D. Heaven. The new hall exceeded their fondest expectations, and the 
few well-chosen words which the newly elected prelate used in its praise 
added much to the eni'ovment of his audience. 

In September, 1893, the Sisters of Providence came to Worcester, and 
took up their residence at the Bartlett estate on Vernon street, which 
had been purchased some years before by Monsignor Griflin. These 
good Sisters are a diocesan order, having their mother house in Hol- 
yoke. Their labors in behalf of the sick and afflicted are appreciated 
by the people of Worcester, and their efforts nobly seconded on every 
occasion. 

In September, 1894, a school for boys was formally opened in St. 
John's parish, with the Xaverian Brothers of Baltimore in charge. 
These brothers, bound by the vows of religion, devote their lives to 
the teaching of boys. For this life work, in addition to their regular 



304 



The Worcester of 1898. 



novitiate training at the Brothers' Seminary in Baltimore, they receive 
a special preparation in their Normal College at Danvers, Massachusetts. 
As teachers they have firmly established themselves, both in this country 
and in England. At present the Brothers' school in .St. John's parish 
has an attendance of 400 boys. 




ST. PAUL'S CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

In I.S95 the corner-stone of the Polish Church, of which Reverend 
J. Jaksztys is pastor, was laid, and the church was erected under the 
title of St. Casimir's. 

The parish of the Holy Name was organized in 1896, and through 
the indefatigable labors of the pastor, Reverend J. S. Perreault, the 
church was dedicated on Palm Sunday. In this year also the Golden 
Jubilee of St. John's Church was celebrated wnth imposing ceremonies. 
The people not only of St. John's, but of all the Catholic churches in 



The Worcester of 1898. 



305 



AVorcester, came, eager and willing to crown the hallowed edifice with 
her diadem of gold. The great event was marked by a thorough 
renovation of the church. 

August 27, 1897, marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the coming 
-of the Sisters of Notre Dame to Worcester. In this vear also the 




old Fox's mill at A'ernon square was purchased by the Catholics (.)f 
Notre Dame Parish, who erected a brick school-house for the accommo- 
dation of the French children in the vicinity. This present year ( 1898) 
Reverend V. Migliore has banded together the Italians of our city for 
the purpose of building a church, which is now in course of erection on 
Suffolk street. 



3o6 The Worcester of 1898. 

This brief sketch of Catholicity in Worcester would not be complete 
without mention of the numerous societies and organizations connected 
with the different parishes throughout the city. Many are widely 
known, while others do an amount of good in a quiet way. They 




YOUNG MEN'S CHRIbTIAN ASSOCIATION. 

are of all kinds — spiritual, literan,- and athletic, — each tending to 
elevate those who come within the scope of its influence. 

The cause of Catholic education has received much attention in 
Worcester, and as a result the summit of more than one green hill 
that guards our city is crowned with Catholic schools that, year after 
year, send out pupils well equipped to fight the battle of life. The aim 
of the Catholic teachers, Jesuits, brothers and sisters, is not to send out 



The Worcester of li 



307 



from their schools prodigies, or even unusual scholars, but thoroughlv 
educated young men and women filled with zeal and enthusiasm for the 
highest and best in the spiritual, the intellectual and the social life; 
intelligent, refined young men and women, who are first and foremost 
loyal practical Catholics and good citizens, yet human still with faults 
and foibles. This is the sole end and object of their teaching, and if 
they achieve this aim, their most sanguine expectations will be realized. 
The storv of Catholicitv in the " Heart of the Commonwealth" is one 




YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 



f the obstacles overcome and victories gained. To-day the Catholics 
of Worcester comprise more than one-third of the population, and 
rejoice to see temples of their faith rising in all sections of this fair city. 
Fifty years have seen Worcester grow from a small town to a city of 
magnificent proportions. Generous hearts and willing hands were 
needful to bring about this transformation, and in this eventful year, 
the leaf that the Catholics will entwine in Worcester's wreath of laurel 
will be one of assurance that the same hearts and hands are still and 
ever shall be at her command to help carry on the great work of prog- 
ress which '98 commemorates. 




JEREMIAH EVARTS GREENE. 



POST OFFICE GROWTH. 

• By Jeremiah Evakts Greene, P. M.* 

0P()ST office was first established in Worcester November 15, 
1775, with Isaiah Thomas, the founder and editor of the Mus- 
stic/itisc//s Spy, as postmaster. 

Only two mails appear to have been received and three dispatched 
weekly. One was received from the west Tuesday evening and one 
dispatched to Fitchbtirg on Wednesday, and one was received from 
Boston and one dispatched westward on Friday. It seems probable 
that the carrier who t(iok the mail to Fitchburg brought back mail 
from that place, but I have seen no mention of it. The roads of that 
time were tracks through the woods and fields, impassable for any but 
the strongest wheeled vehicles. Traveling was slow and difficult, and 
was mostly done on horseback, and for soine years the mails were 
carried in that fashion. Not until 1783 was a stage or wagon line 
established between Boston and Hartford, making the trip in four days, 
passing through W'orcester toward noon of the second dav. Three 
years later passengers and the mail were carried from Boston to New 
York in four days in the summer; in winter the trip required seven 
days. With the improvement of roads and vehicles the rate of travel 
was steadily increased, tmtil in 1 831, it is said, the journey from Worces- 
ter to Boston could be made by stage in six hours. In 1836 twenty 
lines of stages made in all 122 arrivals and departures weeklv at 
Worcester. 

Up to this time the business of the post office steadily increased, 
though with little change in character or methods, except that the 
number of mails received and dispatched was much greater. The 
receipts of the office for its earlier vears are not readilv obtainable. For 
the year 1825 they were $713, scarcely more than the average dailv 
receipts now. For the year 1836 they were $2,827. The receipts of 
one day during the past year have been more than half that sum. 

The Boston & Worcester Railroad was opened for business in 1835, 
and mails as well as passengers were carried on its trains. At iirst 
* See sketch in Biographical Department. 




THE POST OFFICE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 311 

tliree trains departed from eaeh terminus daily in summer, and two 
daily in the winter season. The time of each run was between two and 
three hours. This frequency and speed of course greatly increased the 
business of the post ofifice, and it was further increased when the Nor- 
wich & Worcester and the western roads were opened a few years later. 
Hut yet no marked change in the character or methods of postal business 
was made. The postmaster's business was only to receive, assort and 
deliver at the post office the letters which arrived, and to dispatch to 
their destination those which were deposited at the post office for mail- 
ing. And so it continued until Worcester became a city, in 1848. Two 
novelties, however, came into use about this time. One was the postage 
stamp, which was first supplied to postmasters by the Post Office De- 
partment in 1847; the other was the envelope, which then began to be 
used, though stamped envelopes were not introduced until some years 
later. 

The revenues of the office in i S48 I have failed to ascertain exactly, 
but they were not far from $1 5,000, or approximately one dollar for each 
inhabitant. In 1825, when the population was about 3,500, the receipts 
of the post office were $713, or twenty cents annually for each inhabi- 
tant. Now, with a population of more than 100,000, the post office 
receipts are somewhat more than two dollars annually for each inhabi- 
tant, so that the business of the post office increases much faster than 
the growth of the population in numbers, being stimulated by the 
improved postal facilities, and by the increasing activity in general 
business. 

In these fifty years since Worcester became a city, five notable 
additions to the general postal system have been made, all tending 
either to extend its usefulness and convenience to the public by making 
the transmissicm of mails swifter or safer, or by affording a new kind of 
service. In 1863 the letter-carrier or free-delivery service was estab- 
lished. For some years before, the penny-post system, so called, had 
been in use, in which a few carriers were employed who derived their 
income from the pavment of one cent for the delivery of each letter to 
those persons who had given notice at tlic post office of their wish to 
receive their mail in that way. The free-carrier delivery superseded the 
penny post, and the system has grown rapidly in importance and public 
favor. It was at first defended against those who objected to the great 
increase it caused in the expense of the postal service by asserting that 
it in large part, if not wholly, paid its way. This assertion was founded 
upon the fact that the law establishing the free-delivery service required 
that drop letters, or letters addressed to persons within the delivery of 
the post office where they were mailed, must be prepaid with a two-cent 
stamp at free-deliverv offices, whereas in other offices a one-cent stamp 




GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR. 



The Worcester of 1898. '313 

<nil\- was necessary. But the system has long since needed no defense. 

About the same time, that is, in 1863, the Railway Mail Service had 
iis beginning's. It has grown enormously, and has long been indispen- 
sable. Railway post-office cars are now in use on all the important 
lines of railroad, and the mails are handled in them bv railway post- 
office clerks much as thev are in ordinary post offices. 

The registry system provides additional security for valuable lettens 
.nd parcels, and certainty of delivery or return, if undeliverable, of mail 
matter when this certainty is important to the sender. 

The money order system was introduced in 1864, and its use is so 
common and extensive that almost everybody understands it. It is 
not, perhaps, quite so well known that money can be sent by this means 
with absolute safety, for if a money order is lost in transmission, or hv 
the payee before he has presented it for payment, a duplicate order 
will be issued on application without additional expense. 

The Special Deliver}' Service provides for the immediate delivery of 
every piece of mail matter intended for delivery in Worcester, whether 
received from another office through the mails or deposited in the citv 
post office, provided it bears a ten-cent special delivery stamp. The 
area of delivery is so large, some letters having to be carried more than 
five miles, that the average time required to deliver each letter is some- 
what greater than it would be if these letters were delivered from the 
stations, and the time reckoned from the arrival of the letter at the 
station. But as, in many cases, the letters would be held at the main 
office for an hour or two before the next regular dispatch to the station, 
the public is on the whole better served by making all these deliveries 
from the main office, though the reported time required for delivery i.s 
somewhat increased. The average time, however, does not exceed 
tvvent\' minutes. The Special Delivery System \vas established in 1885. 

Each of these branches of the postal service has its distinct place 
and its clerks assigned to that duty in every city post office. Let us 
consider each in its order and see how the post office is equipped and 
managed. First, as the original and dispensable parts of the system 
are the mailing and delivery di\'isions. Isaiah Thomas, alone or 
through an assistant, had to do their work, or what there was of it, 
though he probabl}' did not speak or think of it as in two divisions. 
The mailing division has nine clerks, one of them at Station A, under 
the charge of the superintendent of mails. They receive all letters 
brought in by carriers and collectors, or deposited directly in the office, 
and all other mail matter, papers, packages, etc., except those received 
by the Registr\' Division. Thej^ postmark the letters and sealed and 
special delivery packages: distribute them in the mailing cases, which 
have pigeon-holes, one for each post office to which five or more letters 




JOSEPH H. WALKER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 315 

are sent at one time : tie them out in packages, each of which has a 
printed facing slip telling from what office it comes and where it is to 
go: put the letter packages and special delivery packages into leather 
pouches, labeled for some railway post office if they are R. P. O. 
pouches, or for some post office if they are "closed" or "direct" 
pouches; and see that the pouches are seasonably loaded into the 
wagons for the railroad station. 

The mailing clerks also "rate up" letters and packages insufficiently 
prepaid, and give notice to the senders, if known, or to the addressees, 
of unpaid letters or insufficiently paid packages ; for letters on which at 
least two cents postage is not paid by stamps, or packages not fully 
paid, are held for postage. Papers and packages, with the excep- 
tions noted above, are dispatched in sacks labeled as the pouches are. 
These sacks and some pouches are hung on the great pouch rack, which 
h<ilds 1 20 of them, and a clerk, standing in the centre, throws the pack- 
ages into the open mouths of the sacks with a certainty of aim that is 
quite admirable. This division also has the general supervision of 
the wagon service between the post office and the railroad station; 
of the canceling machines, driven by electricity, which cancel the 
stamps and make the postmarks; of the night stamp window, and of 
some other matters. The clerks are examined at intervals, being 
required to distribute some hundreds of cards representing letters 
addressed to post offices in this or some other state. The speed and 
accuracy of the process are noted, and the i^esult of the examination 
is a factor in determining the clerk's official record. The average 
number of pouches dispatched daily is aboi:t 170, and as many are 
received. Of sacks about 210 are dispatched, and not so many by 
40 or 50 are received. 

The Delivery Division has twelve clerks, under the charge of the 
superintendent of delivery. One of these clerks is employed at Station 
A. This division has charge of all letters for delivery in the city. It 
backstamps all letters, sealed packages and special delivery packages 
with the day and hour of their receipt; it assorts the mail for carriers 
into the letter and paper sorting cases; it places or "sticks up" 
the box-holders' mail in their respective boxes; it turns over to the 
general delivery all matter addressed to it and all that neither belongs 
to box-holders nor can be delivered by carriers ; it promptlv turns over 
to the special delivery clerk all special delivery matter; it makes 
special effort to complete or correct the addresses of all imperfectly 
addressed matter; it supplements the printed City Directory by enter- 
ing in an interleaved copy all newly-found addresses; it compiles and 
maintains for reference a woman's directory containing the full names 
and addresses of married and other women not found in the City 



3i6 



The Worcester of i8g8. 




RESIDENCE OF JONAS G. CLARK, 39 ELM STREET. 



Directory; it rates up and collects postage due on unpaid or insulfi- 
ciently paid matter for delivcrv, etc. This division handles an average 
of between 25,000 and 30,000 letters daily, or about 8,000,000 in a year. 
At the beginning of a quarter, and especially on New Year's day, the 
number handled in a day sometimes approaches 100,000. About the 
same number are handled by the Mailing Division. 

The letter carriers, sixty-one in number, are a part of the Delivery 
Division. Their duties are in general familiar to the public. Some of 
them dcli\-er on an average more than 1,000 letters daily, most of them 
a much smaller number. Altogether they deliver not less than three- 
fourths of all the letters delivered in the city. They are a company of 
intelligent, capable and faithful public servants, who deserve all the 
public fa\-()r which I am glad to believe that they enjoy. Each carrier 
is required to keep a directory of all persons on his route, to note all 
changes, and ascertain, if possible, whence each new arri\al comes, and 
whither a departing resident goes. 

The .Special Delivery Service, with its eleven messengers, is also 
included in the Delivery Division. Each package of letters received 
by mail is at once inspected for special letters. If any are found, they 
are carried immediately to the special delivery desk, where the time of 



The Worcester of 1898. 



3'7 



receipt, the place of mailing' and the address are recorded both in the 
office book and the messenger's book. The messenger brings back his 
book with the signature of the recipient and the time of delivery, and 
these are copied into the office book. The number of letters specially 
delivered during the year ended June 30, 1898, was 28,713, and the 
average time of delivery was twenty-two minutes. Another employee 
of this divison is the "blind reader," who makes out, if he can, badly 
written or otherwise perplexing addresses, and has other duties be- 
sides. 

The street letter and package bo.xes are under the charge (if the 
superintendent of delivery. The former are nearly 300 in number, 
and more are added from time to time. From each of them letters are 
collected at least twice daily, and from all but a very small number 
three or more dailv collections are made, one of them after six o'clock 
in the evening. From a considerable number three collections are 
made after six o'clock, and from ten or seventeen collections daily. 
One of the most difficult parts of a postmaster's business is to keep 
correct time cards on the letter-boxes. They are often defaced or 
destroved bv mischievous persons, who are not perhaps aware of the 
heavy penaltv incurred in case of detection, and it is often desirable to 




RESIDENCE OF FRED A. LAPHAM, 65 CEDAR STREET. 



3i8 



The Worcester of i! 




RESIDENCE OF WILFORD A. BAILEY, 4 RIPLEY STREET. 



chantje the times of collection or add to their number, and a new card 
then becomes necessary, and the process of procuring it through the 
department at Washington is slow and cumbrous. 

The Money Order Division 'employs a superintendent and one clerk 
and in part another, whose time is divided between this and the stamp 
division. Its chief function is to provide the means of making pay- 
ments at a distance, but it can be used for paying money in the city, 
either by orders drawn at the main office payable at any station, or at 
any station pavablc at the main office or anv other station, or by a 
recent order of the department, orders may be issued payable at the 
office of issue. The money order office may thus be used as a bank of 
deposit, the order being made payable to the depositor, and the money 
will be paid at any time on presenting the order, or, if that has 
been lost, a duplicate will be issued without fiirther payment. Money 
orders may be deposited in the banks, as checks are deposited, and 
they are then paid through the clearing house. 

The extent of the money order business will be seen from the 
following summary of the business for the year ended June 30, 



The Worcester of 1898. 



319 



Balance, 

20,913 domestic orders 



^2,286.52 



issued, 


164,599.03 


Fees on same, 


1,296.59 


4,133 international issued, 


52-376.41 


International fees, 


692.30 


Transferred from postal 




account, 


4, 700.00 


2,628 deposits received, 


248,966.54 



36,937 domestic orders 

paid, 
113 d<jmestic repaid, 
1,044 international paid, 
14 international repaid. 
Paid to stations, 
Deposited at Boston, 
Balance, 



!i?474.9'; 



$2. 


^«,7S3 


27 




814-73 




2,909 


2 I 




400 


50 




150 


00 


158-144 


00 




3-745 


66 


$4 


■4-917-37 



The money order business at the stations and sub-stations would 
increase each of these totals by about $75,000. 

The Registry Division requires for the proper performance of its work 
the utmost care and exactness. Any error is sure to be discovered and 
reported, and to bring at least a reprimand from the department at 
Washington. The work of this division is done by a superintendent 
and one clerk. Its aims are accuracy and certainty, not speed of transit, 
and these are secured by the requirement that every piece of registered 
mail matter must be receipted for whenever it changes hands. The 
sender takes a receipt from the postmaster, the postmaster from the 
railway post-office clerk, the railway post-office clerk from the post- 
master at the office of delivery, this postmaster from the letter carrier, 
the carrier from the addressee. If a registered letter is missing, it can 
be traced to the last person who gave a receipt for it, and he is held 




RESIDENCE OF BENJAMIN 



ARBER, 31 GERMAIN STREET. 



320 



The Worcester of i; 



accountable. An act of Congress of the present year provides for a 
guaranty against loss of registered matter to the amount of ten dollars. 
Even without this guaranty the system afforded practically absolute 
safety except in cases of robbery of post offices or mail trains. The 
number of domestic registered letters dispatched from the Worcester 
post office for the year ending June 30, 1898, was 15,609; domestic 
parcels, 1,024; foreign letters, 3,053; foreign parcels, 117. The numbers 
received and delivered were nearly the same, except in the case of 




FRANKLIN BUILDING, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 



The Worcester of li 



321 



foreign parcels received, which was considerably more than of those 
dispatched. 

The Stamp Division is the source of nearly all the revenue of the post 
office. Its duty is the sale of postage stamps, postal cards, stamped 
envelopes and newspaper wrappers. It employs a superintendent and 
one clerk. Its receipts at present average about $700 for everv working 
day. The sales for the year ended June 30, 1898, included 1,273,600 
one-cent postage stamps, 6,066,200 two-cent stamps, 135,000 five-cent 
stamps, 1,803,000 two-cent stamped envelopes, and 1,373,750 postal 
cards, besides smaller but considerable numbers of stamps and envel- 
opes of other denominations. The stamp account is balanced daih*, and 
the office records show the exact amount of sales for every da}' of the 
last seven and a half years. 

The Inquiry Division employs one clerk. His duty is to make 
searches for missing or delayed mail matter, to receive complaints, 
answer inquiries, and, so far as his special work will permit, to act as 
secretary to the postmaster. The whole number of pieces of mail 
reported missing during the \-ear ended June 30, 1898, was 588. 
This includes those said to have been mailed at this office, and those 
mailed elsewhere for delivery here. Of these 211 were found and 
delivered, or accounted for. The causes of loss, temporarv or per. 
inanent, included failure to mail the article, through the remissness 
of the sender or of the messenger by whom it was supposed to have 
been mailed; mislaying the letter or package after its delivery; defective 
or erroneous or illegible address; delivery to a person having the same 
name as the addressee, or so like it as to be mistaken for his; wreck 
of mail train or mail steamer; unmailability of the letter or package ; 
injury to package, destroying the address, etc. Doubtless some of 
those not accounted for were stolen by post-office emplo3-ees, but it is 
confidently believed that no loss from that cause has occurred in the 
Wf)rcester post office for many years. If all the pieces of mail not 
definitely accounted for have been lost, their number bears what I mav 
fairly call a surprisingly small ratio to the not less than 18,000,000 
pieces, e.xclusive of newspapers and periodicals, handled in the post 
office during the year. It is one in 47,745, two one-thousandths of i per 
cent., or, expressed decimally, .00002. 

There are four stations, A, B, C and D, and four sub-stations, Nos. i^ 
2, 3 and 4, of the Worcester post office. The distinction between stations 
and sub-stations is that at the former carriers are placed, who make their 
deliveries from the stations; at the sub-stations there are no carriers. At 
any station or sub-station stamps or stamped envelopes and cards can be 
obtained, money orders are issued, and mail may be registered. Station 
A, at 51 Main street, has a superintendent, two clerks and twelve 



322 



The Worcester of 1898. 




RESIDENCE OF MRS. NANCY H. S. PIPER, 224 HIG 



carriers. The receipts at this station exceed $20,000 yearly, and the 
amount of its business exceeds that of any post office in the county 
except those of Worcester and Fitchburg. Station B, at Webster 
square, has a clerk in charge and two carriers. Station C, at Ouin- 
sigamond, has a clerk in charge and one carrier. .Station D, at 
Greendale, has a clerk in charge and one carrier. The sub-stations, 
each having a clerk in charge, are: No. i, at 8 Millbury street; No. 
2, at Lake View; No. 3, at the corner of Southbridge and Washburn 
streets; No. 4, at 236 Front street. Until 1893 there had been for 
several years three independent post offices within the city limits, 
known as Ouinsigamond, Lake View and Greendale. In that year 
they were made stations of the Worcester post office, and in the 
next year the other stations and sub-stations were established, except 
Sub-Station No. 4, which came into existence in 1S97. 

The post office is now organized as follows: The postmaster, of course, 
is its official head ; the assistant postmaster represents the postmaster 
during the latter's absence; he is cashier and bookkeeper, and custodian 
of post-office supplies; he also has special supervision of the Money 
Order and .Stamp Divisions. Mr. James W. Hunt, who has occupied 
this position for many years, entered the post office in 1869; he knows 
the business from top to bottom and from end to end. No post- 



The Worcester of 1898. 



323 



master ever had, I believe, a more competent, faithful and valuable 
assistant. 

The Mailing Division is in charge of Mr. Clarendon W. Putnam, 
superintendent of mails, also a veteran in the service, whose connec- 
tion with this post office began in 1867. He has charge of the complex 
and exacting business of dispatching all mails, of postmarking all letters 
mailed and canceling the stamps on all mail matter, of deciding what 
is or is not mailable, of rating up and holding for postage matter insuf- 
ficiently paid, and giving notice to the senders or addressees, of keeping 
several records, and preparing a variety of daily, monthly and quarterly 
reports. His duties require a systematic and orderly mind, with uncom- 
mon vigilance and industry, and Mr. Putnam lacks none of these 
qualities. 

The Delivery Division has for its superintendent Mr. George S. 
Maynard, who entered the postal service as long ago as 1873. His 
duties are many and laborious. He has charge of all the delivery 
business of the office, and of nearly 100 employees, carriers, clerks 
and messengers. He is efficient in discipline ; his appetite for work 
is in.satiable; his knowledge of the citv is remarkably minute and 
accurate, and his watchfulness to discover and his promptness to 
improve opportunities benefiting the service are of great value to 
the office and to the public 




RESIDENCE OF MRS. CELIA E. FOBES 53 CHATHAM STREET. 



324 



The Worcester of 1898. 




APPLECROFT," RESIDENCE OF BURTON W. POTTER, SALISBURY STREET. 



Mr. Hiram K. French, superintendent of the Money Order l)i\-ision, 
is another veteran in the post olfice, his service having begun in 1872. 
He has charge of the issue and payment of money orders, of the receipt 
and disposition of money-order funds, and the keeping of the records 
pertaining thereto. His absolute integrity, his methodical and accurate 
mind, and his capacity for hard and rapid work make him invaluable in 
his present place. 

The superintendent of the Stamp Division is Mr. Frederick W. Chase, 
who has been in the post ofifice since 1873. He fits into his place as if 
he were made for it. The money which supports the Worcester post 
office comes through his hands, and perfectly honest and skillful hands 
they are. 

The Registry Division has for its superintendent Mr. .Sidney vS. 
Bryant, the youngest of the superintendents, having lately succeeded 
to Mr. Samuel Pierce, who died a few months ago, after nearly forty-four 
years of faithful service in the post office during the terms of five of the 
ten Worcester postmasters. Mr. Bryant is competent and trustworthy. 
and the division is in good hands. 

Mr. Albert F. Simmons, a courteous and capable gentleman, performs 
the duties of the Inquiry Division. They are often perplexing, and 
sometimes tryitig to the temper, for information which the visitor is 
eager to give can not always be got without difficulty, and some persons 
seeking knowledge are hasty and unreasonable, but he meets them all 
with a fine patience and courtesy. 



The Worcester of 1898. 325 

The clerks are assigned to duty in their several divisions, as mentioned 
elsewhere. They are intelligent, hard-working, faithful men, and it 
mav be said here as well as anywhere that if the present postmaster is 
thought to have had any success in his endeavor to meet the public 
wants, it is due to the cheerful cooperation and loyal service of the 
whole body of employees in the office. 

Another place can scarcely be found which has had a post office so 
long and so few postmasters as Worcester. The first postmaster here, 
as has been already said, was Isaiah Thomas, appointed in 1775. He 
was succeeded in 1801 by James Wilson, who held the office until 1833. 
Jubal Harrington was his successor, and retired in 1839. Then followed 
Maturin L. Fisher, 1 839-1 849; Edward Winslow Lincoln, 1 849-1 854; 
Emory Banister, 1854-1861 ; John Milton Earle, 1861-1867; Josiah Pick- 
ett, 1867-1887; James E. Estabrook, 1887-1891; J. Evarts Greene, 1891. 
Seventy years ago the receipts of the post office for one year were $1,008. 
The receipts and expenses for the year ended June 30, 1898, are given 
l)elo\v : 

RECEIVED. 

QrARTER EiNDliD SePIKMBF.R 30, 1S97. 

Sales of Stamps, etc., .... $49,507.40 



Waste paper, etc., . . . . 10.88 

Bo.x rents, ...... 939.05 



yL;.-\RTER Ended Decemher 31, 1897. 
Sales of stamps, etc., .... $55,946.53 

Waste paper, etc., .... 40j-77 

Box rents, ...... 943. 18 



Ql'.^RTER EiNDED MaRCH T,l, l8gS. 

Sales of stamps, etc., .... $54,528.90 

Waste paper, etc., .... 4.5-8- 

Box rents, ...... 932-4° 



Quarter Ended June 30, 1S9S. 

Sales of stamps, etc., .... $53,271.67 

Waste paper, etc , . . . . 10.62 

Box rents, . . . . . . 919-65 



fc°.457- 



57.293-48 



S5.5°5-i2 



54,201.94 



Total receipts for the year, ...... $217,457.87 

Deposits from other post offices, ..... 32,748.39 

$250,206.26 



326 



The Worcester of li 



Excess of receipts over expenditures, 
Percentage of expenses to receipts, 45 7-10. 

Total receipts for year ending June 30, 1897, 
Gain, ........ 

Per cent, of gain, 5 3-10. 

EXPENDED. 



Quarter E.s'dkh Sk 
Error, auditor's circular, 
Postmaster's salary. 
Special-delivery messenger 
Clerks' salaries. 
Rent, light, etc.. 
Canceling machines. 
Printing facing slips. 
Miscellaneous expenses. 
Free-delivery expenses. 

Quarter Enokd Dec 
Error, auditor's circular, . 
Postmaster's salary, . 
Special-delivery messengers. 
Clerks' salaries. 
Rent, light, etc., 
Canceling machines. 
Printing facing slips, 
Miscellaneous expenses. 
Free-delivery expenses. 

Quarter Ended M 
Postmaster's salary, . 
Special-delivery messenger 
Clerks' salaries, 
Rent, light, etc.. 
Canceling machines, . 
Printing facing slips. 
Miscellaneous expenses, 
Free-delivery expenses. 



QUARTl' 

Error, auditor's circular, 
Postinaster's salary, . 
Special-delivery messenger 
Clerks' salaries. 
Rent, light, etc.. 



r Ended J 



rEMHER 30, iSgy. 

II17.07 
900 

567 
8,417 

37 
87 



-3 

14,5 75 



1897. 

$1.21 

900.00 

599-92 

8.770-75 

37-5° 

87.5° 

13.86 

122.35 

'3.9S9-I8 



I, IS9S. 


$900.00 


554 


40 


8,738 


53 


37 


50 


87 


5° 


14 


76 


37 


65 


'4,798 


98 



NE 30, 1898. 



!if -55 

900.00 

566.40 

8,668.00 

37-50 



$117,904.58 

$206,431.92 
11,025-95 



$24,629.30 



24,492.28 



25,169. 



Ainoinits can nd for\ 



10,172.45 



74,290.90 



The Worcester of it 



327 



Amounts bnntglit forioard, $10,172 

Canceling machines, ..... 87 

Printing facing slips, .... 8 

Miscellaneous expenses, .... 38 

Free-delivery expenses, .... 14,954, 



Total expenses for the year, 
Paid railroad post-ofifice clerks, 
Transfer to money-order account. 
Deposited with United States treasury, 

Total 



Total expenses for the year ending June 30, 1S97, 
Increase, ........ 

Per cent, of increase, 2 1-2, 



74,290.90 



25,262.39 

$99,553-29 

10,840.38 

4,700.00 

135,112-59 

^250,206.26 

$96,986.80 
2,566.49 



It may be remarked that the errors noted in this statement were not 
due to inaccuracy in the postmaster's accounts, but to the fact that the 
auditor for the Post Office Department found these sums due to the post- 
master for which he had not taken credit in the previous quarter's 
account, because they were not settled at the end of the quarter, and he 
therefore believed that they should be credited in the account for the 
next quarter. 

Without mention of the earlier migrations of the post office, but 
beginning with the year in which Worcester became a city, the office 
then occupied a part of the first floor of what was then called the 
Central Exchange, which has latelv been reconstructed, and is now 
occupied by the Mechanics National Bank and the Mechanics Savings 
Bank. It was removed from that place to Post-Office block on Pearl 
street, where it remained for nearly thirty years, expanding as its 
business increased, until, in 1893, it occupied the whole of the first 
floor of that building. In February, 1897, it was removed to the new 
government building on Main street, where it will doubtless remain for 
many years. This building was begun in 1890, or, to be more exact, 
another building much smaller than the present was then projected and 
the foundation was laid. In the spring of 1891, the postmaster suc- 
ceeded in having these plans set aside, the first fotindation taken out, 
and new plans adopted for a larger building. The building as it now 
stands cost, with the land, $400,000. It is, in convenience of arrange- 
ment and style of finish, one of the best and handsomest in the country, 
and its working-room especially is not excelled by any. 



SOCIAL CLUBS. 



ll^ilORCESTER is, perhaps, not as much given to club life as some 
llAJl other cities in the land, heme attractions prevailing to an extent 
which overcomes the propensity to find a refuge from family infelicities 
in^the diversions and excitements of artificial surroundings. The club, 
of course, serves a useful purpose in its way, and to those who have 
no home it is in a degree essential. Regarded as a place of resort 
on social occasions, which do not follow every day in the week, it 
is unobjectionable; and the conveniences afforded members for the 
■entertainment of transient guests are worthy of approval. On the 
whole the club has come to be an institution which is found in all 
■civilized communities, and probably it could not well be dispensed 
with. The most prominent as well as the most exclusive club in the 
city is the Worcester, which was organized in 1888 for social purposes 
distinctively. The elegant dwelling of the late Honorable Isaac Davis 
on Elm street was purchased and refitted, and is now one of the best 
club homes in the country, perfect in its appointments. The member- 
ship is limited to 150. 

The Commonwealth Club, the most popular of these organizations in 
the city, was formed in 1880 and incorporated in 1881, its object being 
mutual, social and political improvement. The club had its rooms for 
many years in the bank block on Foster street, but it now occupies the 
•entire top story of the State Mutual Life Assurance building. 

The Quinsigamond Boat Club, which owns a fine building at the 
lake, is largely social in its character, and includes in its membership 
many of the most prominent and wealthy young men in the city. 

The Washington Social Club is another association of prominence. 
It occupies a suite of rooms in the city, and also owns a boat house at 
the lake. 

The Hancock Club was formed in 1891, and at first occupied a room 
■on Lincoln street, but in 1892 leased the old Salisbury mansion in 
Lincoln square. This club has no political, social or religious bias. 
Its membership includes some of the staunchest and most popular 
Tausiness and professional men of the north end. 



330 



The Worcester of li 




W0RCES1LF-; 



The Worcester Woman's Club was organized in i8So. The constitu- 
tion has the following preamble: "We, women of Worcester and 
vicinit}', feeling the necessity which the present and prospective status 
of women imposes upon us, of informing ourselves more fully not only 
upon subjects of general intent, but also upon the more important 
special questions which are now pressing upon all people ever\-where 
for a just solution, because involving the welfare of humanity, do agree 
to form ourselves into an association for the prosecution and accom- 
plishment of the above-named purpose." 

The Y. M. C. A. owns a fine boat club house at Lake Ouinsigamond. 
Other prominent boat clubs which have houses there are the Lakeside, 
the Tatassit Canoe Club, the Wachusett, the Wapiti, the Frohsinn, the 
Frontenac, the Svea Gille. 

There are a number of other clubs, of more or less importance, a 
detailed or individual description of which would exceed the limits of 
this article. 



THE PEESS. 



D 



X 184S five weekly and two dailv papers were published in Worces- 
ter. Of these The Massacliusctts Spy was the oldest, having been 
continuously published since 1770, when it was established in Boston, 
and in 1775 it was removed to Worcester. This paper and its dailv 
edition are the only survivors of the seven local issues of fifty years 
ago. The National yEgis was first established as a weekly in 1804, and 
was finally merged with the Transcript (which by change of name 
became the Gazette), and the combined form, 'Tlie yEgis ami Gazette, was 
published until Tune, 1896, when the weekl}- issue of the Gazette was 
abandoned. T/ie Worcester Palladium, a Democratic weekly until 1856, 
when it became Republican, was founded in 1834, and its publication 
was continued until February 12, 1876. The Cataract was a relic of 




HANCOCK CLUB, OLD SALISBURY MANSION. 



332 



The Worcester of 1898. 



Washingtonian temperance times, published weekly, and was soon after 
discontinued. Elihu Burritt's Christian Citizen, devoted to universal 
peace and philanthropic objects, established in 1844, was published 
until 185 1. The first daily paper in Worcester, the Transcript, appeared 
June 23, 1845, and was followed by the Daily Spy July 24 of the same 
year, and within a few months these were consolidated under the name 
•of the Spy. The Worcester Daily Journal was printed from September, 
1847, to October, 1849. The Daily Morning Transcript, fimi issued April 





CALEB A. WALL. 



1, 1851, is continued in the present Evening Gazette, which took this last 
name January i, 1866. The Worcester Evening Journal, in the interest of 
the Native American or Know-Nothing party, was in existence from 
August 30, 1854, to May 26, 1855. The Daily Bay State was a Demo- 
cratic organ of brief existence. April i, 1873, The Worcester Daily Press, 
another Democratic paper, appeared, and was continued five years, with 
heavy loss to those who sustained it. Tlie Neiv England Home Journal. 
a weekly, was published two or three years from December, 1882, and 
was finally sold to the 'J'inics, a Democratic paper, which was published 



The Worcester of 1898. 



333. 




TATASSIT CANOt CLUE. 

several years. Another weekly, the illustrated Light, had a. similar 
career. Several French papers besides those now in existence have 
been published in Worcester since 1869. In the above list, only the 
more prominent journals have been enumerated, a number of others of 
less importance and brief appearance being omitted. 

Of newspaper men distinguished within the period of fifty years, the 
name of John Milton Earle of the Spy is the best known of those who- 
were active in earlier years. John S. C. Knowlton, the founder of the 
Palladmin, was its editor during nearly the whole course of its existence. 
John D. Baldwin, Delano A. Goddard and J. Evarts Greene of the Spy, 
and Charles H. Doe of the Gazette; Ferdinand Gagnon and Henry M. 
Smith, the latter formerly editor of The Chicago Tribune, are noteworthy 
names. Caleb A. Wall, bv his long service of over sixty years, nearly 
all of this time as a member of the Spy staff, is entitled to special 
mention. He was, probablv, in point of active duty, the oldest news- 
paper man in New England at the time of his death, October 29, 



At present nine weekly and five daily papers are published in 
Worcester. Of the weeklies. The Massachusetts Spy is the oldest, 
having been published continuously since 1770. The Messenger is 



334 



The Worcester of if 




FRONTENAC CLUB HOUSE. 



is a Catholic paper which lias recently revived after an interval of 
suspension. The Recorder, also a Catholic paper, was first issued in 
March, 1898, and has good prospects of success. L Opinion Publique is 
a French paper published week days. Skandinavia, Nya Ostens Weeko- 
■blad, Arbciarens J 'an, and Finska Amerikauaiien are Scandinavian papers, 
the last named representing the Finnish element. The Builders Weekly 
is a trade journal devoted to building and real estate matters, as its 
name indicates. 

Of the daily papers, the Spy in point of seniority stands first. It 
has recently passed through financial troubles, and is now under the 
management of Mr. W. S. Walker, who came to Worcester from 
Chicago, after c(jnsiderable experience as a newspaper man in that city, 
and purchased the Spy property. His purpose is to greatly increase 
the circulation of the paper, and make it a desirable advertising 
medium as well as a good newspaper. The Telegram was established- 
as a vSunday paper on the 30th of November, 1884, by Austin P. 
Cristy, a member of the Worcester county bar. The first daily edition 
appeared May 19, 1886. This paper has been very successful, and has 
a much larger circulation than any other paper published in Worcester. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



335 



It is a lively sheet, of inquisitive and inquisitorial tendencies, and it is 
prolific in news. Both the above are morning issues. 

Tlie Evening Post, a one-cent Democratic paper, published week days, 
first appeared September 23, 1891. It is owned by a stock company, 
and Eugene M. Moriarty is the treasurer. In circulation it ranks next 
to the Telegram, and with one exception is the only Democratic paper 
of influence in the State between Boston and Springfield. 

The Worcester Evening Gazette is now under the editorial management 
of David G. Rowland, formerly of The Springfield Republican, who during 
his two years' connection with the paper has fully maintained its repu- 
tation as a journal of high character, and conservative and refined 
tendencies. 




CLUB HOUSE. 




fT=m wr 






nm 



es 


/ 


r ^ 


1 

1 




THE CITY CHARTER AND MUNICIPAL 
GOVERNMENT. 

By the Hunurable Rufcs B. Dodge, Jr., 
Mayor of Worcester. 

|HEN Worcester was made a city in 1848, it was the sixth depart- 
ure in Massachusetts from government directly by the people. 
Boston was first given a charter. Then followed Salem, Lowell, Cam- 
bridge, New Bedford and Worcester. 

Town government had given the American people a simple and 
effective system of local rule, whereby a voter could realize his 
sovereignty and see the effect of his ballot. All questions of the 
slightest importance were settled in town meeting, after thorough 
debate and deliberation. Committees were chosen from time to time, 
delegated with authority to do certain specified things, the essentials of 
which the meeting directed, or caused a report thereon to be made for 
approval before final action. 

Never before had any people lived so entirely on a level with civil 
control, and never were more honesty and hard-headed wisdom shown 
than in the days before cities existed in Massachusetts. If the people 
wanted a thing done, they called a town meeting and had it done. 
They did not hesitate to express opinions, or to give their representa- 
tives instructions. 

When the earnest people of the town of Worcester found their clerk 
had spread obnoxious, Tory sentiments, in the form of a protest, on the 
records, they dealt with the matter in town meeting, and then and there 
saw the objectionable matter literally expunged by the clerk dipping 
his finger in the ink and smearing the page in a manner leaving no 
doubt as to the sincerity of the obliteration. The record was ordered 
to be made " utterly illegible and unintelligible," and this was done in 
open meeting. These were days when theories were not worked into 
civil affairs to satisfy the craving of quasi reformers for what, in many 
cases, are mere fads. 

When the citizens desired certain action on the part of their repre- 
sentatives, there was no hesitation in giving plain and emphatic instruc- 



3; 



The Worcester of 1898. 



tions. They did not waste time in deciding just where tlie imaginary 
lines might be between legislative, administrative and executive func- 
tions, but lumped them all together, sometimes adding a little judicial 
as well. Committees were chosen to act in most concerns of importance, 
selected for their capacity for the particular duties required, but held at 
all times to a strict accountability to the people. 

When William Elder and others published a pi^otest against the 
conduct of Committees of Correspondence, saying, among other things, 
"it is in a great measure owing to the baneful influence of such com- 




mittees that teas of immense value were not long since 

scandalously destroyed in Boston," a formal town meeting was held, that 
this protest might not, for a moment, be taken as the sentiment 
of the community, and that it might be denounced publicly by solemn 
vote. 

Coming from such simple and effective methods of local government, 
it was natural that the first city charters should have avoided the 
centralization developed later. 

Worcester's charter of 1848 simply placed the control of the city in 
the hands of a council consisting of two branches, one a common 
council and the other a board of aldermen. 



The Worcester of 1898. 339 

The mayor had little aiithority, and his influence lay in the fact that 
he was substantially a member of the Board of Aldermen, and was on 
all important committees. Really the City Council now stood in place 
of the people, and legislated, administered and executed as a body, or by 
committees. 

While the mayor was the "chief executive officer," that was a mere 
dignity of office, as vSection 8 of the charter was as follows: "The 
executive power of said city generally, and the administration of the 
police, with all the powers heretofore vested in the selectmen of Worces- 
ter, shall be vested in, and may be exercised by, the mavor and alder- 
men as fully as if the same were herein specially enumerated." This 
was reenacted in the charter of 1866. 

Under the charters of 1848 and 1866, the council passed orders for 
certain work, but the committee of the department by which such work 
was to be done saw to its execution. Under the practice of these 
charters, heads of departments took their orders almost entirely from 
committees instead of from the mayor; so that from the beginning of 
consideration of a matter to its completion, the same persons had a 
voice therein. The ordinances recognized and provided for the right of 
committees to exercise this executive authority. 

Whatever may be said against this theory, it certainly had the merit 
of keeping members of the council interested in public works beyond 
the mere passage of an order, rendering them familiar with all phases 
of municipal questions, if they took a proper interest in the duties of 
office. 

Under the first charter the mayor's salary could not exceed $1,200, 
"provided, however, that the City Council shall have the power to 

appoint the mayor commissioner of highways and allow 

him a suitable compensation therefoi-." 

The mayor was a member of the Board of Overseers of the Poor and 
vSchool Committee, but had no power of veto. 

The election of city officials was left more to the voters and less to 
the City Council than now. 

To sum up briefly, the city's affairs were managed by one large 
committee of thirty-three, consisting of the mayor, eight aldermen and 
twenty-four common councilmen. Of course, some particular business 
was in charge of other boards, such as schools and care of the poor, but 
in general this council was a grand committee directly managing by 
itself, or sub-committees, all municipal matters. 

To see how strongly was grounded this principle of committee con- 
trol, and how members of the council and the mayor were equal as to 
the nature of their duties in a general way, it must be remembered that 
no power of veto existed till 1873. In that year an act was passed by 



The WORCESTER OF I 




.•.A.lllNGTON CLUB HOUSE. 

the Legislature giving such power to mayors of cities which should 
adopt the act bv vote of the people. On December 9th of the same 
year, the voters of Worcester adopted said act, the ballot showmg i,934 
for and 59 against. 

With this large authority came responsibility fraught with more 
serious dutv than heretofore. Not only must the mayor assume 
leadership, as the head of the council and of important committees, 
but he must take into his hand every order, and alone with his solenin 
trust express approval or disapproval of all important votes of the 
council He had, however, the advantage of hearmg matters discussed 
in committee and in meetings of the Board of Aldermen, and the privi- 
lege of making suggestions of facts oftentimes more familiar to him, and 
convincing to council members when called to their attention. 

This benefit is, under the new charter, cut off, as it is no longer 
possible for the mayor to be a member of committees, and he violates 
the spirit of the charter if he attends their meetings without special 
invitation. . .. 

The transaction of municipal business by committees is practically 
the system by which the cities of Toronto and Glasgow are governed 
two cities generally regarded as exceptionally well managed. 

Various acts were passed by the Legislature between 1848 and ib6& 
changing the charter, but not until the latter year was a general 
revision made. The charter of 1866 centralized somewhat the exer- 



The Worcester of 1898. 341 

cise of municipal authority, but still left the council a general committee, 
and it was not until 1 893 that the theory of government was changed by 
making the council strictly a legislative body, and the mayor purely an 
executive officer. 

Three sections of this charter represent fairly the theory upon which 
it is framed, and are as follows: 

Section 18. Neither the City Council, nor either branch thereof, nor 
any committee or member thereof, shall directly or indirectly take part in 
the employment of labor, the expenditure of public money, the purchase of 
materials or supplies, the construction, alteration or repair of any public 
works or other property, or in the care, custody or management of the 
same, or in general in the conduct of the executive or administrative busi- 
ness of the city, except as herein required in providing for the appointment 
and removal of subordinate officers and assistants, and as may be necessary 
for defraying the contingent and incidental expenses of the City Council, or 
of either branch thereof, nor shall they or either of them take part in the 
making of contracts, except as may hereafter be otherwise provided by 
ordinance. 

Section- 21. Except as herein otherwise provided, the City Council shall 
have and exercise by concurrent vote the legislative powers of towns and of 
the inhabitants thereof, and shall have and exercise by concurrent vote all 
the powers now vested by law in the city of Worcester, or in the inhabitants 
thereof, as a municipal corporation, and be subject to the duties imposed on 
city councils; and the Board of Aldermen shall have and e.xercise, subject 
to the approval of the mayor, all the powers given to selectmen of towns 
and to boards of aldermen of cities, and shall be subject to the duties 
inijiused upon such boards. 

Sectio.v 23. The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the city, 
and the executive powers of the city shall be vested in him and be exercised 
by him, either personally or through the several officers and boards in their 
respective departments, under his general supervision and control. 

Thus it is seen that the council may pass orders, but can have no 
voice in carrying these provisions into effect. It hands its directions to 
the mayor, but has no control thereafter. 

The simple outlines of the present charter are best understood by con- 
sidering the mayor as the superintendent of the city's business, having 
under him heads of the various departments, who exercise full control 
thereof, except when the mayor interposes his authority. Together they 
make contracts authorized by the council, and see that the provisions of 
such contracts are carried out. 

These heads of departments are no longer subject to orders from 
committees, and need only look to the mayor for instructions relative to 
their general duties. 



342 



The Worcester of i! 



The council is supreme in its own chambers, within the scope of its 
legal authority, but it or any of its members can not cross the thresh- 
old of the executive domains with any charter rights. j 

The intention was to create a purely legislative body to decide what j 
should be done, and leave entirely to another set of officials the doing of 
it. Ever\' element of execution is taken from the council, and every 
element of legislation from the mayor. The mayor is no longer presi- 
dent of the Board of Aldermen, member of any committee, school board, 
overseers of the poor. He has the right to recommend annual appro- 
priations and other matters of legislation, and has a veto power, which, 
however, may be overcome by two-thirds of either branch, or by the 
same of both branches, if the subject matter requires concurrent action. 
Great responsibility and power rest with the mayor, easily used for 
good, and as easily used for evil. 

The present charter contemplates the positive taking away of the i 
mayor from all participation in legislative stages of municipal work, 
and while this change was so radical that it was not at first heeded, 
it has now become a settled condition, and being law should con- 
tinue observed. Under it more good can be done by a strong man 
rightly disposed, and more evil wrought by a weak man wrongly 
disposed. 

It may not be best that the mayor should mingle with the council and 
committees as formerly, and that this separation, maybe, leaves him free 




The Worcester of 1898. 343 

to act with more independence ; but, on the other hand, misunderstand- 
ings will certainly arise which could not occur otherwise. 

The chief magistrate should not make a practice of seeking opportu- 
nities to express his views to committees as individual members, and it 
is not natural that such views should be sought for. 

A comparison of cities will prove that in spite of theories, every 
system of charter shows success and failure. The best charter produces 
no results without honest, and capable officials u.se it, and capable and 
honest officials can govern a city well under any charter ever made. 

Xo branch of municipal authority can be so strong and correct as to 
make the government successful ; and while we are giving some officials, 
like the mayor and heads of departments, larger power, it should be 
remembered that such course takes from the council so much of 
responsibility that the members may not view the duties of office 
seriously. 

To give a full explanation of Worcester's charter, or the charter of 
any large city, would be to write a book ; and to discuss, even in a 
general way, the different theories under which cities are governed. 
wMuld be to add a volume or two. London has one system, Paris 
another, Glasgow is unlike either, while our own country presents an 
equal variety. An intelligent analysis showing how Paris can be a 
successful city with a score of mayors, one for each arrondissement, and 
Toronto a model with only one, and he without any particular authority, 
then tracing from cause to effect the peculiar and unusual provisions 
found in various charters, is the province of text-book writers and can 
not be undertaken here ; but perhaps the reader may catch a glimpse of 
outline showing in a general way the controlling features of our local 
government from this brief and condensed sketch. 




HARRISON S. PRENTICE. 



MUNICIPAL DEPARTMENTS. 



THE PUBLIC HEALTH. 

Natural situation and advantages, an abundant supply of pure water, 
adequate and perfect drainage, and intelligent supervision and con- 
trol, are the principal factors in the establishment and maintenance of 
the public health. And in all these factors Worcester is blessed in 
an uncommon degree. Its hills and valleys and generally favorable 
climate are included within the first section, and the physical geog- 
raphy * of the city and its surroundings may be profitably studied in 
this connection. First in importance are the quality and quantity of 
the water supply, and it appears that this was a matter of more or less 
concern in this community one hundred years ago, when the first legis- 
lative act was passed, March 2, 1798, authorizing the construction of an 
aqueduct by Daniel Goulding to conduct water from a certain spring 
owned by him to accommodate some of the inhabitants of the town, 
the greater number of whom, however, continued to depend upon wells 
up to the time of the incorporation of the city. Indeed, as late as the 
year 1858, the inaugural address of the mayor, Isaac Davis, contained 
an implied recommendation, to property owners to obtain their water 
supply by digging wells of ordinary depth on their own premises. 
Even in a rural citv of 20,000 inhabitants this method would be 
objected to at this time, with the present knowledge and scientific 
advancement, and it certainly would not answer in a dense population, 
with surface filth and other dangers multiplied. Artesian wells are, 
however, to be considered in another light, as absolute prevention from 
outside contamination is assured. Several of these have been sunk in 
Worcester, biit most of them to meet the requirements of manufacturing- 
establishments. 

THE WATER WORKS. 

The inception of the present svstem, which is olScially designated 
the Worcester Water Works, was in the formation and incorporation of 



*See "The Physical Geography of Worcester, Massachusetts," by Joseph H. Perry. 
Published by the Worcester Natural History Society. 



■346 



The Worcester of i! 



the Worcester Aqueduct Company, February i8, 1845, and the taking 
of Bell pond, which at that time was considered a sufficient supply, 
while the water was recommended for its purity. The rights and 
property of this company were purchased by the city in 184S. Several 
other sources of supply during the next fifteen years are specified on 
page 41 of this volume. The Lynde brook source was taken in 1864, 
imder the able and practical administration of Mayor D. Waldo Lincoln, 
and this was the real foundation of the present reliable system. The 
dam and reservoir at Lynde brook are located five and a half miles from 
the City Hall, with an area of 143 acres and a water-shed of 1,870 
acres. The capacity of this reservoir is 681,000,000 gallons; depth 
-of water at dam, 37.4 feet; elevation above City Hall, 481.25 feet. 




. , PURIFICATION i LA:.T. 

Parsons' reservoir has a capacity of 9,000,000 gallons, and is a distribut- 
ing reservoir. There are three reservoirs on the Kettle brook supply, 
which has a water-shed of 2,314 acres. This supply is connected with 
Lynde brook reservoir b}' a thirt3'-inch main. The Tatnuck brook dam 
and reservoir, five miles from the City Hall, built in 1883 and raised 
ten feet in 1892, add 730,000,000 gallons to the supply. The area of 
this reservoir is 94.52 acres, and it has a water-shed of 3,148 acres- 
The dam is thirty feet high, and the elevation above the City Hall is 
260 feet. The distribution reservoir on Tatnuck brook, below the 
larger reservoir, contains 2,500,000 gallons. Number of miles of main 
pipe, 156.96; miles of service pipe, iii; which furnishes an estimated 
quantity of 62^ gallons daily to each person in the city. Total cost of 
the water works November 30, 1897, §3,134,822.95; income from water 
rates in 1897, $210,064.16. Water for domestic service is furnished 



The Worcester of 



347 



at about two-thirds of the cost in other Xew England cities. There 
are 1,535 ^^e hydrants in the city, 1,968 gates; number of meters, 
11,508.* The revenue above expenses in 1897 was about $13,000. 
Water pressure at City Hall: High service, 150 pounds per square 
inch; low service, 70 pounds per square inch. Elevation of Main street 
at City Hall, 481 feet above tide-water. 

The following table gives the number of dwellings, persons, fixtures, 
etc., assessed for water in the city of Worcester: 

Dwellings, .... ii,ooS Baths, 



Families, 

Stores, 

Offices, 

Saloons, 

Markets, 

Shops, 

Stables, 

Persons using, 

Sinks, 

Basins, 



22,653 

1,174 

8/5 

98 

106 

575 

2,237 

103.702 

29,256 

i^.o^i 



Water-closets, 

Hose, 

Boilers, 

Horses, 

Cows or oxen. 

Elevators, 

Barber shops. 

Hotels, 

Schools, 

Motors, 



Analysis proves that this water contains a very 
of impurity in organic or injurious matter, which 
freedom from typhoid and other similar diseases. 



i3>592 

28,165 

7,469 

2, 1 14 

5-360 

874 

308 

99 

27 

65 
43 

small percentage 
s attested by the 



DRAINAGE. 

The construction of the present .system of sewerage was begun in 
1S67 under powers given by special act of the Legislature passed in 
ilarch and accepted by vote of the citizens April 16 of the same year. 
Under this act the city acquired the right to appropriate certain water 
courses recommended in a report of a special committee appointed to 
consider the matter, made to the City Council in October, 1866. These 
main channels compi'ised the following: Mill brook, from Grove street 
to Green street, which it was calculated would drain 1,552 acres in the 
city, and its water-shed north of Grove street was computed at 5,024 
acres; Lincoln brook, the natural outlet of the sewage in the western 
part of the city; Austin street brook; Hermitage brook, rising in the 
northern part of the city with a water-shed of 400 acres; Piedmont 
brook and Pine Meadow brook. The walling of Mill brook as the main 
sewer was commenced at Green street May, 1867, and was substantially 
completed to Lincoln .square in 1870 — 2,238 feet open and 3,369 feet 
arched.. The first sewers were laid in the streets in August, 1867. 
The system of sewers has been extended from year to year. January i, 

* The above figures are brought down to the end of the year 1897. Construction has 
been carried forward during the present 3'ear in the usual proportion. 



348 



The Worcester of 1898. 




WACHUSETT CLUB HOUSE. 



1898, there were 105.72 miles of sanitary sewers and 6.29 of surface 
sewers, which have cost $3,689,052.16, not including the outlay in 1898.* 
vSonie twenty years ago the pollution of the stream below Quinsiga- 
mond Village by the sewage of the city began to cause complaint in 
Millbury and other places on the Blackstone river, and after several 
years' agitation of the subject, the Legislature in June, 1886, passed an 
act requiring the city of Worcester to purify its sewage within four 
years (by June, 1890), by some method not specified, before discharging 
it beyond city limits. In 1888 the Joint Standing Committee of the 
City Council recommended the construction of an "outfall sewer," from 
the end of the present sewer at Quinsigamond Village to the land 
selected for the final treatment of the sewage before passing into the 
stream below. The purification works have attracted much attention, 
and undoubtedly much of the evil has been removed, but whether in a 
degree equal to the large amount of money expended — $607,660.97 to 
November 30, 1897 — remains to be seen. According to the monthly 
analysis of the water after it passes the purification works, made b}- the 
State Board of Health, the pollution is greater now than in 1896, but 
this conclusion is in a measure questioned by the local authority. It 
seems, however, safe to assume that sewage purification in Worcester 
is still an unsolved problem, which, with the grade-crossing menace, 



* Repeated efforts to obtain desired information 
sewers were ineffectual. 



it the office of the superintendent of 



The Worcester of 1898. 



349 



will seriously disturb the minds and pockets of the tax-payers of the 
city during the early years of its second half-century. The annexation 
of Millbury and a covered sewer to Narragansett Ba}' are among the 
possibilities of the future, if chemical or mechanical precipitation fails 
in its attempted work. 

BOARD OF HEALTH. 

The Board of Health was established in 1877. It is composed of three 
members, of whom the city physician is, cx-officio, one. The board also em- 
ploys general inspectors and an inspector of plumbing. The regulation of 
all matters that affect the public health, or are connected with the sanitary 
condition of the city, are properly within the care of the board — drainage, 
disposal of ofifal, contagious diseases, etc.; and the inspection of milk 
and other articles of food. The board also issues burial permits. 

All the modern facilities and discoveries for the determination and 
control of contagious and other diseases, the testing of water, milk and 
other foods, are in use by the board. An isolation hospital was erected 
in 1896, and is equipped with a steam sterilizer and all the latest 
appointments for the comfort of patients. 

The general health of the city compares very favorably with that of 
other places of its size in New England, as evidenced by the figures 
given in the following tables : 

Mortuary Table for Thirtv-four Year.s. 









So 








5 - 






X. 


=^0 • 






J3 


f^§ ■ 






1) 










si's 




Population. 


3 


^g| 




Population. 


Q 


^S| 


t 




'o 


•^ „- « 


t 




'o 


-= o-« 


a 




d 


l^8w 


A 




d 


i§" 


> 




^; 


^2 


> 




Z 





1864 


29,041 


891 


30.68 


1881 


61,000 estimated 


1153 


18.90 


1865 


30.058 


787 


26.18 


1882 


65,000 


1230 


18 


92 


1866 


32,067 


700 


21.83 


1883 


67,000 


1291 


19 


27 


1867 


34,477 


677 


19.63 


1884 


70,000 


1303 


18 


61 


1868 


36.687 


766 


20.88 


1885 


68,383 census 


'323 


19 


34 


1869 


38,896 


825 


21.21 


i886 


70,000 estimated 


1188 


16 


97 


1870 


41,105 


938 


22.82 


1887 


78,937 


1335 


16 


91 


1871 


42,737 


1146 


26.82 


1888 


82,000 estimated 


1471 


17 


94 


1872 


44,369 


1394 


31-41 


1889 


85,000 


1500 


17 


64 


J873 


46,001 


1055 


22.93 


1890 


84,655 census 


1436 


16 


96 


1874 


47,633 


993 


20.85 


[891 


89,000 estimated 


1586 


17 


82 


1875 


49,265 


1043 


21. 17 


1892 


93,000 


1762 


18 


94 


1876 


50,000 estimated 


1063 


21.24 


1893 


98,000 


1895 


19 


17, 


1877 


50,000 


1097 


21.94 


1894 


100,410 


1728 


17 


2 


1878 


52,000 


948 


18.23 


1895 


102,000 water census 


1827 


17 


91 


1879 


53,000 


910 


17. 16 


1896 


103,086 " " 


1796 


17 


42 


1880 


58,295 


I2l8 


20.89 


1897 


106,202 " " 


1791 


16 


86 



350 



The Worcester of 1898. 




LAKE IN ELM PARK. 



Contagious and Infectious Diseases. 





Diphtheria. 


Scarlet F 


EVER. 


Typhoid 


Fever. 




m 


m 




oj 


JS 




ui 


.a 


(U 


YEAR. 


^ 

« 





f2| 


s 

u 


(U 

Q 


Il 





a! 

Q 


"1 S 
Pi s 




































































S a. 






u p. 


d 








^ 


^; 


Q 


^ 


Z 


Q 


% 


^ 


P 


6. mos of 




















1884 


398 


64 


16.08 


60 


4 


6.66 








1885 


360 


49 


13.61 


73 


I 


1.36 


e 


mo.s. 


f 1896. 


1886 


170 


21 


12-35 


123 


2 


1.62 


49 


5 


10. 20 


1887 


'44 


3.S 


243° 


124 


1 1 


8.87 


166 


13 


7-83 


1888 


212 


49 


23.11 


136 


1 1 


8.09 


94 


2 


24.46 


1889 


185 


33 


1783 


81 








127 


25 


19.69 


1890 


115 


20 


17-39 


100 


6 


6.00 


94 


15 


'5-95 


1891 


174 


35 


20. II 


296 


13 


4-39 


84 


18 


21.42 


1892 


203 


58 


28.57 


449 


16 


3-58 


92 


19 


20.65 


1893 


123 


35 


20.84 


179 


10 


5-58 


143 


31 


21.67 


1894 


199 


74 


37-18 


161 


7 


4-34 


160 


31 


20.62 


1895 


254 


70 


27-55 


132 


5 


3-78 


139 


25 


17-98 


1896 


352 


70 


19.85 


224 


6 


2.67 


127 


14 


1 1.02 


1897 


312 


55 


17.62 


254 


8 


3-14 


100 


15 


15.00 



The Worcester of 1898. 

S.MAI,L-P()X. 

In iSSS there were seven cases of small-pox and one death. 
In i''^94 there were sixteen cases and mi deaths. 

Me.VSLEs. 
Report not required until July, iSSS. 



351- 







C3 


n 




m 

% 


Is 


*j 


rt 








V 


rt 





-^ 


:) 


















>* 










\^ 





^ 









d 


Oh 




d 
2; 


d 


0. 


tt raoh. 
















1888 


318 


13 


4.08 


■893 


1 1 12 


16 


1-43 


1889 


1083 


20 


1-85 


1894 


485 


1 I 


.02 


1890 


'58 


I 


•63 


189s 


29 


I 


■34 


1891 


681 


7 


1.02 


1896 


456 


7 


•IS 


1892 


51 


I 


1.96 


1897 


522 


17 


•03 



Vital Statistics. 

Popidation (water census) January i, 1898, ..... 106,202 

Deaths (exclusive of stillborn) in 1897, ...... 1,791 

Deaths (exclusive of stillborn and premature births), . . 1,749 

Death rate per thousand, stillborn excluded, . . . 16.80 

Death rate per thousand, stillborn and premature births excluded, 16.47 

Males, .... 904 Females, . . . . 887 

Stillborn, .... 127 Premature births, . . 41 

Insane, .... 68 Births, . . . . .1,018 



THE PARKS SYSTEM. 

For many years the only public ground in Worcester was the old 
Common, or, as more fancifully designated, Central park. This tract 
was early set apart by the pioneers in the settlement of the place as a 
"training field," but in after years it was seriously encroached upon, 
and a large portion was used for various purposes other than those 
implied in the original declaration. The town burial-ground occupied a 
part of this tract, and school-houses, hearse and gttn houses were located 
here. Roads and paths crossed it in diliferent directions, the discontin- 
uing of which aroused considerable opposition; and the fencing of the 
Common was resisted with persistency for several years. The railroad 
tracks were for a third of a century a menace to safety. It is only 
within the last twenty years that the ground has taken on an appearance 
in character with its proper use as a public park. The inclosure now 
contains about seven acres. 



35^ 



The Worcester of li 



On the 15th of March, 1S54, the city purchased the land now com- 
prised in and known as Elm park, about twenty-seven acres in extent, 
paying therefor $11,257.50. Public sentiment in regard to this action 
was far from being unanimous, and strong efforts were made during the 
next year to influence the City Council to rescind its vote and throw 
the land back upon the grantors. This tract remained unimproved for 
twenty years, and was used during that time as a place for circuses and 
other exhibitions, but had few of the features of a public pleasure- 
ground. The genius of the late Edward Winslow Lincoln, for many 




EDWARD WINSLOW LINCOLN. 

years chairman of the Parks Commission, brought about a wonderful 
transformation, and the park was, under his management, the most 
attractive pleasure-ground in Worcester, and probabh^ unique in its 
special features. Governor Levi Lincoln at his death in 1868 left a 
legacy of $1,000 for the improvement of this park. 

In 1884 Honorable Edward L. Davis and Mr. Horace H. Bigelow 
made a free gift to the city of about 1 10 acres of land bordering on 
Lake Quinsigamond, a tract admirably adapted from its location and 
■divensified surface for a public ground. The community thus became 
po.ssessed of Lake park. Mr. Davis gave $5,000 to improve this park, 



The Worcester of li 



353 



and later erected at his own expense a stone tower of picturesque con- 
struction. Fourteen acres of land included in this tract had in 1862 
been offered to the city as a gift by the Honorable Isaac Davis, and was 
declined. 

The acquisition of this public ground was followed by a great awaken- 
ing on the subject of parks. The "Park Act" was accepted by an almost 
unanimous vote. During the next six or eight years, the city came into 
possession of nine additional parks, aggregating over 200 acres, as by 
the following enumeration appears: Crystal or University park, 1887, 8 
acres; East park, 1887, n acres; Institute park, 1887, 18 'acres;' Cromp- 




SHELTER IN INSTITUTE PARK. 

ton park, 1888, 13 acres; Newton hill, 1888, 60 acres; North park, 1889, 
40 acres ; Dodge park, 1 890, r 3 acres ; Fairmount, small ; Chandler hill, 
1892, 37 acres. The aggregate of all the parks in Worcester is nearly 
350 acres. Three of the above— Institute, Dodge and Fairmount parks- 
were gifts to the city by Honorable Stephen Salisbury, Thomas H. 
Dodge, Esq., and the late David S. Messinger, respectively. The fee of 
East park is in the Commonwealth. The others were purchased, and a 
"park loan" was authorized and funded. The total cost has been over 
$250,000, exclusive of gifts. 

Institute park has been improved by Mr. Salisbury largely at his own 
expense, and is much resorted to by those who drive, walk, or ride the 



354 



The Worcester of 1898. 




LAKE IN INSTITUTE PARK. 



wheel. North park and Dodge park are in the northern section of tlie 
city; East park and the adjoining Chandler hill are situated between 
vShrewsbury and Belmont streets. Crompton park lies between Mill- 
bury street and Quinsigamond avenue. University park is opposite 
Clark University on Main street. Each of these parks has its own 
special attractions and points of interest, and altogether they form one 
of the chief glories of our beautiful city. 

In September, 1898, Charles D. Boynton presented a deed to the city 
of about 130 acres of land located in Paxton and Holden "for the pur- 
poses of a public park, or for a hospital, or sanitarium, or both, or either, 
as the City Government shall from time to time determine." The deed 
reserves a life interest in the land to Mr. Boynton. By vote of the City 
Council October 3, and approved by the mayor October 7, the gift was 
gratefully accepted. This tract contains the celebrated "Silver Spring," 
and the land adjoins the city line, and is within easy access. 

In 1863 the Commission of Shade Trees and Public Grounds of three 
members was constituted, and entered upon its duties. In 1885 this 
body was reorganized with five members, and its name changed to that 
of Parks Commission. It is no disparagement to the valuable services 
of those who have been his colleagues to say that from the appointment of 
Edward Win.slow Lincoln in 1870 to his death in 1896, he was the back- 
bone of the commission, and that to his intelligent direction, liberal 



The Worcester of if 



355 



views and practical sense Worcester owes much of what she to-day- 
possesses in the form of public parks. 

The following are the Park Commissioners for 1898 : Obadiah B. Had- 
wen, Chairman ; James Draper, Secretary ; William Hart, Edward L. 
Davis, Edwin P. Curtis. 

POLICE DEPARTMENT. 

The Worcester police force has always maintained a high reputation 
for efficiency. The first paid policeman in Worcester was Alvan W. 
Lewis, who was appointed in September, 1848, night watchmen and 
constables, discharging most of the duties at that time. The gradual 
growth of the department is shown by the increase in number every 
five years: 1855, 5; i860, 12; 1865, 16; 1870, 30; 1875, 50; 1880,60; 
1885, 80; 1890, 100. The department as it stands in 1898 is composed 
of I chief of police, i deputy chief of police, 2 captains, 2 lieutenants, 
I secretary, 5 sergeants, 1 1 7 patrolmen, 4 doormen, i matron, 2 inspect- 
ors, 2 drivers, i janitor; total, 135. 

On the 28th of May, 1888, the Worcester police force was made 
permanent, so that officers (excepting the chief and his assistant) can 
now be removed only for cause. The Police Relief Association is a 
voluntary organization of members of the force, for the purpose of 




BOAT HOUSE IN INSTITUTE PARK. 



356 The Worcester of 1898. 

aiding a sick member temporarily, and paying a death benefit to his 
widow and orphans of $700. 

There are two police stations: No. i, headquai'ters on Waldo street, 
and No. 2, on Lamartine street. There is a bicycle squad of five 
men, and several officers are mounted in emergency. There are an 
electric signal system, ambulances and patrol wagons connected with 
the department. The appropriation by the City Council for the expenses 
of the police in 1897 was $125,000, and the revenue, $7,597; total 
expenses, $137,646. There were 4,749 arrests in 1897, and 11,124 
tramps were accommodated during the year. Of $16,001 value of 
property lost or stolen reported, $12,959 was recovered. 



STREETS. 

At the beginning of the year 1898, there were in Worcester 181 miles 
of public streets and 63 miles of private streets, 1 1 miles of paved 
streets, 79 miles of brick sidewalks, 10 miles of concrete sidewalks, k 
mile of granolithic walks. These streets were lighted by 567 arc and 
40 incandescent electric lights, 40 Welsbach gas lights, and 1,798 gaso- 
lene lamps. Block paving prevails to a great extent; asphaltina and 
brick paving are gradually coming into use, several streets having 
already been laid in these materials. ]\Iany brick crosswalks have 
replaced the old flagstones. Many miles of streets are macadam- 
ized. 

Under the old law previous to 1896, the abutters were obliged to keep 
the sidewalks in repair. The new law compels the city to make all 
necessary repairs, and complaints of defective sidewalks are more 
numerous than formerly in consequence. The trend is towards reliev- 
ing the owner from the present requirements of the law to keep his 
sidewalk clean of ice and snow in winter, and within a short time this 
duty will probably be performed by the Highway Department, as has 
been the case with street watering, which is now done by the city, the 
cost being assessed with the tax upon estates. No damages can now 
be recovered in consequence of accident due to ice and snow alone, if 
reasonable compliance with the law has been made by the owner. 
Formerly large claims were made by those who were injured, and in 
many cases awarded; but this grew into an abuse to such an extent 
that an act was passed by the Legislature to correct it. Now gross 
negligence or an obvious defect in the paving must be proved before 
the plaintiff can recover. 

The appropriation for street maintenance and construction in 1898 
was $133,000, with $92,500 additional for street lighting. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



;57 




RESIDENCE OF GEORGE C. BRYANT, 78 WOODLAND STREET. 



FIRE DEPARTMENT. 



In 1848, when Worcester became a city, the numerical force of the 
Fire Department was 247, divided among five engine companies, one 
hook-and-ladder company, and a board of seven engineers. Only hand- 
engines were in use at that time. The Fire Department had been 
incorporated and regularly organized in 1835, and the number of men 
and engines was from time to time inci'eased as the growth of the place 
advanced. In 1854, when the Merrifield fire, Worcester's most disastrous 
conflagration, occurred, the city was as well equipped for fighting fii-e as 
any other community of its size in this part of the country ; but at that 
time none of the modern methods or apparatus had come into use, and 
the devouring element overcame such resistance as could then be 
brought against it, and swept away everything in its path. To-day 
a similar fire could be quickly controlled unless adverse circumstances 
of an extraordinary nature should prevail. 

The advent of the -steam fire-engine, like most innovations, was 
resisted with bitterness, but its efficiency was so effectively demon- 
strated that within a few years it entirely superseded the old hand 
apparatus, the hook-and-ladder excepted. Another valuable adjunct 



358 



The Worcester of i! 




RESIDEIICE 



vVESTMINSTER STREET. 



and aid to the quick extinguishment of fires was the alarm telegraph, 
the first portion of which was constructed in 1871. Within the past 
year or two the wires of a considerable part of this system have been 
placed under ground. 

Worcester has now one of the most efficient fire departments in the 
country, and its reputation is generally acknowledged. The manual 
force consists of the chief engineer, deputy chief, assistant chief and 
eighty-eight permanent and ninety-nine call men. The apparatus in- 
cludes seven engines, fourteen hose-wagons, four chemical-engines and 
four ladder-trucks. Sixty-two horses are employed. There are sixteen 
department houses, besides the new headquarters. 

The department headquarters at Union and Foster streets, just com- 
pleted and soon to be occupied, cost over $100,000 exclusive of the land. 
It is one of the most beautiful and commodious fire buildings in the 
country. 

An important auxiliary to the Fire Department is the Insurance Fire 
Patrol, which is maintained by the insurance companies, with the aid of 
an annual grant from the city. It renders quick service, and by the 
spreading of rubber covers, and other assistance, saves many thou- 
sands of dollars' -worth of property yearly. The appropriation for the 
maintenance of the Fire Department in 1898 was $139,000. Edwin L. 
Vaughn is chief engineer. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



359 



PROPERTY AND TAXATION IN 1898. 









V.^LU.-VTION. 






Polls. 


Real. 


Personal. 


Total. 


Ward I, 


3461 


$12,249,050 


$4,479,400 


$16,728,450 


Ward 2, 


4220 


8,546,650 


1,136,950 


9,683,600 


Ward 3, 


4014 


6,062,050 


2,391,800 


8,453,850 


Ward 4, 


415- 


4,860,650 


834,150 


5,694,800 


Ward 5, 


4740 


4,808,600 


947,800 


5,756,400 


Ward 6, 


3928 


11,259.950 


3,647.450 


14,907,400 


Ward 7, 


3375 


1 1, 280,500 


2,016, 100 


13,296,600 


Ward 8, 


3120 


16,037,700 


4,032,900 


20,070,600 


Non-residents, 




6,153,250 


146,250 


6,299,500 



Totals, 31,010 

Resident bank shares, 

Totals 

Tax on 31,010 polls at $2, 
Ta.\ on $102,054,315 at $16.20, 

Total amount raised. 
Total state, county and city tax. 



$81,258,400 $19,632,800 $100,191,200 
1,163,115 1,163,115 



520,795,915 



!eio2,o54,3i5 

$62,020.00 
1,653,279.90 

^1,715,299-90 
1,695-377-27 





Overla) 


ings, . 












$19,922.63 






Property 








Neat 












Owners. 


Houses. 


Horses. 


Cows. 


Cattle. 


Sheep. 


Swine. 


Fowls. 


Ward 


I, 


1897 


1320 


7S0 


439 


45 


6 


1 12 


2320 


Ward 


2, 


2187 


1498 


757 


380 


80 


— 


74 


1095 


Ward 


3, 


1640 


1187 


818 


59 


— 


— 


— 


600 


Ward 


4, 


1523 


1212 


450 


105 


21 


— 


45 


964 


Ward 


5, 


r747 


1313 


498 


154 


20 


— 


27 


745 


Ward 


6, 


2419 


1561 


845 


104 


8 


— 


22 


358 


Ward 


7, 


2251 


1349 


649 


100 


14 


— 


22 


330 


Ward 


8, 


2416 


I4S7 


S90 


333 


42 


14 


34 


865 


Xon-r 


esidents 


899 


744 


42 
5729 


57 
1731 


8 
238 


20 


35j 


— 




16,979 


1 1,67 I 


7277 


State 


tax, incl 


uding Armory tax 


$5,845- 


36, . 






$62 


350.00 


County tax, 














119 


747-00 


City tax, 














1,513 


280.21 


State 


tax. 
















$0.31 


County tax. 
















0.87 


City t 


ax. 

Total, 
















15.02 




$16.20 



The tax rate for 1898 is $16.20 per thousand. The figure is $1.40 
above last year's rate, and the highest for ten years. The advance is 
due to the increase of the appropriation to cover the interest on the 
general debt, amounting to about $37,000, sewer loan amounting to 



36o The Worcester of 1898. 

about $3,000, contributions to the sinking fund amounting to about 
$41,500, and the increase of the county tax from $60,000 to $119,000. 
Three and one-half millions has been gained in property valuations : 
three in real, and one-half in personal. The rate is the result of the 
financial management of some city councils of recent years, and it will 
be higher if the borrowing continues. The assessors have increased 
the valuation, but the big loans are bearing heavy interest, and the tax- 
payers will have to bear the burden. 

Over five million dollars of property owned by religious, educational, 
charitable and other institutions in the city is exempt from taxation in 
1898, the revenue from which, if assessed, would amount to $80,000. 
Of religious societies the amount exempted is $2,843,100, and the 
largest estates are: Union, Congregational, $240,000; St. Paul's, Roman 
Catholic, $232,200; All Saints', Protestant Episcopal, $150,400; Old 
South, Congregational, $146,600; Central, Congregational, $120,200; 
Plymouth, Congregational, $118,900; Piedmont, Congregational, $116,- 
200; St. Anne's, Roman Catholic, $103,300; Young Women's Christian 
Association, $105,800; Young Men's Christian Association, $88,500. 

Of educational institutions and libraries the total is $1,617,500, the 
principal being Worcester Academy, $421,100; Clark University, $414,- 
600; Polytechnic Institute, $303,500; Holy Cross College, $299,400. 
Charitable and benevolent institutions, total, $205,600. Miscellaneous, 
$427,200. Grand total, $5,093,400. 

FACTS OF INTEREST. 

By the first census of the United States, taken in 1 790, it appears 
that Worcester with 2,095 inhabitants ranked as the sixteenth in popu- 
lation among the cities and towns in the country. Those ranking before 
it were: i. New York; 2, Philadelphia; 3, Boston; 4, Charleston; 5, 
Baltimore; 6, .Salem; 7, Providence; 8, Taunton; 9, Richmond; 10, 
Albany; 1 1, New Bedford ; 12, Haverhill; 13, Lynn; 14, Portland; 15, 
Cambridge. 

In 1800 Worcester's rank was twenty-fourth. The others ranked as 
follows: I, New York; 2, Philadelphia; 3, Baltimore; 4, Boston; 5, 
Charleston; 6, Salem; 7, Providence; 8, Norfolk; 9, .Richmond; 10, 
Albany; 11, Hartford; 12, Savannah; 13, Troy; 14, New Bedford; 15, 
Lancaster, Pennsylvania; 16, New Haven; 17, Taunton; 18, Portland; 
19, Waterbury; 20, Washington, District of Columbia; 21, Lynn; 22, 
Haverhill; 23, Cambridge. 

In 1810 Worcester's place had declined to the twenty-seventh; in 
1820, to the thirty-sixth; in 1830, to the thirt3--ninth ; in 1840, to the 
forty-first; in 1850, to the thirty-third; in i860, to the thirty-fourth; in 



The Worcester of 1898. 



361 



1870, to the thirtieth; in 1880, to the twenty-eighth; and in 1890, to 
the thirt3'-second. 

Worcester in 1898 is the second city in population and importance in 
the State, the third in New England, and the third inland city in the 
United States. It produces a greater variety of manufactured products 
than any other city in the United States, 

Worcester is the third agricultural town in the State, Dartmouth 
ranking first with only 3,107 population, the annual value of its 
agricultural products being $697,407. Boston comes second, with a 
total of $615,562. Worcester's total is $582,439. The Worcester 
dairy is the richest in the State, its annual value being $214,997. 
Next come hay, straw and fodder, $149,298; then vegetables, $62,- 
■034; greenhouse products, $39,773; poultry, $29,892. 

Worcester has the largest wire factory in the world ; the largest loom 
works and envelope factories in the United States. Every kind of a 
machine used in a woolen or 
•cotton mill is manufactured here. 
There are 1,292 manufacturing 
establishments, with $1 5,092,707 
■capital invested ; employing the 
last census year 20,185 people, 
who received $9,533,490 wages, 
producing $38,311,085 worth of 
finished products. 

According to the water census 
•of 1898, which includes only 
those using water, there are in 
the city 1,211 offices, 99 saloons, 
1 1 8 barber-shops, 20 foundries, 
2,227 stables, 14,338 baths, 29,- 
227 water-closets, 2,201 boilers 
for heating, 7 mills, 76 laun- 
dries, 72 churches, 23 hotels, 69 
boarding-houses, 590 shops, 21 
greenhouses, 70 schools, 356 ele- 
vators, 1 1 photograph-galleries, 
106 markets, 1,222 stores. It is 
estimated that 1,500 people do 
not take water. 

OLD MILL, INSTITUTE PARK. 





CHARLES A. CHASE. 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



By Charles A. Chase, A. ^I.* 

|T is of course essential to the growth and development of a city 
that its people should be well supplied with banking institutions, 
to supply a safe custody for deposits of money, to furnish credit to- 
men of business, and to advance the cash upon bills receivable which 
merchants and manufacturers wish to turn into money in advance of 
maturity. In this respect Worcester has been well equipped. The 
capital employed and the facilities afforded have been well up to the 
needs of the community — perhaps never behind and never in excess. 
The city would gain nothing by any increase in the existing number; 
and there are certain economies in the matter of administration which 
are saved to the people by a limitation of the number of banks to the 
actual need. An idea which prevails among ignorant people that banks 
benefit the wealthy class at the expense of any portion of the com- 
munity, is refuted by the moderate dividends which are paid to the 
stockholders, and the risks which they incur, by a study of the 
practical operations of the banking system, and by common sense. 

The first bank of circulation to be established here was organized just 
at the opening of the century. Banks had been formed in Boston soon 
after the Revolution, and were required by their charters to loan a 
portion of their assets upon real-estate mortgages. The records at the 
Registry of Deeds show a number of such mortgages on property in 
this county given to Boston banks, the State bank, the Union bank, etc., 
all of Boston, before we had a bank here. 

The central position of Worcester, in the very heart of the State, the 
centre and shire town of a county abounding in fertile farms and teem- 
ing with manufactures, led the solid men of the place to consider and 
execute a plan to establish a bank here which should bear the name of 
the town and should be a benefit to this section of the State. In the 
year 1803 a number of gentlemen met and appointed a committee con- 
sisting of Benjamin Heywood, Francis Blake, Isaiah Thomas, William 
Paine and Daniel Waldo, Jr., who were to solicit subscriptions for the 

*See sketch in Biographical Department. 




STEPHEN SALISBURY, SECOND. 



The Worcester of 1898. 365: 

stock, which, it was planned, was to consist of 1,000 §100 shares. A 
list for subscriptions was placed in Barker's Tavern in Januar}-, 1804, 
and 183 subscribers was the result. This number was graded down to 
150 by the committee, who applied for a charter, with a capital of 
{1150,000. The charter was granted March 7, 1804, and the concern 
organized under the title of the Worcester Bank. Beside the com- 
mittee the following appeared in the list of corporators: Daniel Waldo, 
Sr., Stephen Salisbury, Nathaniel Paine, Nathan Patch, William Hen- 
shaw and Elijah Burbank. The original charter ran for eight years 
from October, 1804, and provided that the whole amount of capital 
should be paid in before March, 1805; that the bank might hold real 
estate for banking purposes to the amount of $20,000, and that neither 
the circulation nor the loans should exceed twice the amount of capital 
stock actually paid in. No bills could be issued for less than $5, and 
the Commonwealth reserved the right to become an owner in the stock 
to an amount not exceeding §50,000 of additional stock to be created. 
It was also provided that one-eighth of the funds of the banks should 
always be appropriated to loans to "agricultural interests," and the 
bank was bound to loan the State, when required by the Legislature, any 
sum not exceeding $15,000, to be reimbursed in five annual installments, 
and at a rate of interest not exceeding five per cent. The original 
directors were Daniel Waldo, Benjamin Heywood, Samuel Flagg, 
Isaiah Thomas, Daniel Waldo, Jr., Theophilus Wheeler and Samuel 
Chandler. Levi Thaxter, appointed cashier, and Robert B. Brigham, 
accountant, entered themselves in a Boston bank to be instructed in 
the duties of their offices at their own expense. Daniel Waldo was 
elected president. The first building was on the site of the Central 
Exchange. This was destroyed by fire in 1842, and the bank afterward 
continued in the new building in the same place until 185 1, when the 
present structure was erected. The concern was made a national bank 
under the new law, on May 4, 1864, with the title of Worcester National 
Bank. It was the first of the State banks here to adopt the national 
system. The capital of the bank had been increased to $250,000 in 
1851, and is now $500,000. 

The presidents of the Worcester Bank have been Daniel Waldo, for 
a short time in 1804; Daniel Waldo, Jr., from 1804 to 1845; Stephen 
Salisbury, 1845 to 1884; and Stephen Salisbury, Jr., from 1884 to the 
present time. James P. Hamilton has been cashier since July, 1868. 

All the national banks in the city except one (First) are continuations 
in effect of vState banks which were in existence at the outbreak of the 
war in 1861. They retained the same officers, the same quarters and 
the same traditions: and their history may be very properly regarded 
as continuous. 




STEPHEN SALISBURY, THIRD. 



The Worcester of 1898. 367 

The Central Bank was chartered March 12, 1829, the corporators 
William Eaton, Leonard W. Stowell, Isaac Davis, Thornton A. Merrick, 
David Stowell, Pliny Merrick, William Jennison, Daniel Heywood, 
(Gardner Paine, Samuel Allen, Levi A. Dowley, Benjamin Butman, 
Asahel Bellows, Daniel Goddard, Isaac Goodwin, Artemas Ward and 
Anthony Chase. Its presidents have been Benjamin Butman, Thomas 
Kinnicutt, John C. Mason, Joseph Mason and Henry A. Marsh. Mr. 
Marsh entered the service of the bank in 1853, and was cashier from 
1862 to January, 1892, when he was elevated to the presidency. The 
bank was reorganized under the national system May 18, 1864, and in 
1865 increased its capital from $250,000 to $300,000. Until 1853 its 
office was in the brick building owned by Doctor Green, nearly opposite 
Central street, but a little to the north ; then for sixteen years in the 
second story at the corner of Front street, and since in its present 
quarters opposite the City Hall. Otis Corbett was the first cashier, 
from May 16 to November 30, 1829, being succeeded by George A. 
Trumbull, who retired with the president in 1836. William Dickinson 
.ser%^ed from 1836 to 1850; George F. Hartshorn, 1850 to 1856, and 1859 
to 1862: George C. Bigelow, 1856 to 1859; Henry A. Marsh, 1862 to 
1892; and Wilham Woodward, from January, 1892, to the present. 

The Quinsigamond Bank, with a capital of $100,000, was incorporated 
March 25, 1833, the corporators being Nathaniel Paine, Samuel M. 
Burnside, John Coe, Otis Corbett, Ichabod Washburn, Stephen Salis- 
bury, Frederic William Paine, Thomas Kinnicutt, George T. Rice and 
Levi A. Dowley. Samuel D. Spurr, Frederic William Paine, Isaac 
Davis, Alfred D. Foster, Levi A. Dowley, Emory Washburn and Samuel 
Damon constituted the first Board of Directors. The bank was opened 
in Doctor Green's block, now owned by the Merchants & Farmers 
Insurance Company, but soon moved to the south end of the Flagg 
building at the north corner of Sudbury street, and afterward, Septem- 
ber, 1854, to the south corner of Layard place. On January i, 1893, it 
moved to the first floor of the Five Cents Savings Bank building. Its 
capital has been $250,000 since 1854. Alfred D. Foster, its first presi- 
dent, was succeeded by Isaac Davis, 1836 to 1842; William Jennison, 
'<''43-'53; William Dickinson, one year; Isaac Davis, 18 54-'78 ; Edward 
L. Davis, i878-'84; and Elijah B. Stoddard. Charles A. Hamilton was 
the first cashier, serving for twenty years. His successors have been 
Joseph S. Farnum, Alden A. Howe, John L. Chamberlin and Henry P. 
Murray. 

A charter was given to the Citizens' Bank on April 9, 1836, the 
corporators being Calvin Willard, Stephen Salisbury and Harvey Blash- 
field. The capital was fixed at $500,000, but this amount proved larger 
than was needed and was reduced gradually to $150,000. The first 





EDWARD A. GOODNOW. 



The Worcester of 189S. 369 

Board of Directors included Benjamin Butman, Harvey Blashfield, 
Pliny Merrick, William Lincoln, Ebenezer Aldrich, Edward Lamb,' 
Nymphas Pratt, Frederic W. Paine and Calvin Willard. The bank 
began business in the south end of a block built by Mr. Butman on the 
north corner of Main and Maple streets, remaining there until March, 
1 88 1, when it removed to the second story of Harrington corner,' 
remaining there for sixteen years, and then returning to almost its 
original site in the new and beautiful building of the State Mutual 
Life Assurance Company. The presidents since Mr. Butman have been 
Nymphas Pratt, chosen in October, 1838; Pliny Merrick, October, 1839; 
Francis T. Merrick, October, 1842; Francis H. Kinnicutt, November] 
i860; Benjamin W. Childs, September, 1885; Samuel Winslow, Jan- 
uary, 1889; and Henry S. Pratt, November 26, 1894. Mr. George A. 
Trumbull came with Mr. Butman from the Central Bank, and was 
cashier until his death in 1858. He was succeeded by his Lon-in-Iaw. 
John C. Ripley, who served for eleven years. Lewis W. Hammond was 
cashier from 1869 to 1892, and was succeeded by George A. Smith. 

The Mechanics National Bank, like the city of Worcester, has just 
celebrated its golden anniversary, having been incorporated June 15, 
1848, four months after the city received its charter. Its incorporators 
were Frederic William Paine, Henry Goulding and William T.. Merri- 
field, and the capital was $200,000, increased to $300,000 in 1 851, and to 
$350,000, the present amount, in 1853. The first Board of Directors 
included Henry Goulding, William T. Merrifield, Francis H. Dewey, 
William M. Bickford, Charles Washburn, Harrison Bliss, Ebenezer H.' 
Bowen and Alexander DeWitt. Mr. DeWitt was president from 1848 
to 1855, from October, 1857, to 1858, and from October, 1859, to Octo- 
ber, i86o; Francis H. Dewey, October, 1855, to October, 1857; Henry 
Goulding, 1858 to 1859; Harrison Bliss, i860 to July, 1882: Charles W. 
Smith, to March, 1883; David S. Messinger, to' April, 1888, when he 
resigned and was succeeded by Francis H. Dewey, eldest son of the 
second president. The cashiers have been Parley Hammond, to July, 
1854; succeeded by Scotto Berry, to February, 1866, when George E.' 
Merrill, the present incumbent, was elected. The bank began business 
in a new brick block built by General George Hobbs on the south 
corner of Main and George streets, but in October, 185 1, moved to its 
present quarters, previously occupied by the Worcester Bank, in the 
Central Exchange. The bank entered the national svstem March 14 
1865. 

On March 28, 1854, a charter was given to the City Bank, with a 
capital of $200,000, the incorporators being William B. Fox, Henry 
Chapin and Frederic William Paine. It began business in the second 
story of Harrington corner, a favorite site for banking. About the 




^^HpHPBHK.ii 



CALVIN FOSTER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 371 

beginning of the year 1855, however, it removed to the rooms which 
had been especially fitted for its use in the new building erected by Mr. 
Foster on the southwest corner of Main and Pearl streets, where it has 
since remained. George W. Richardson was the first presideflt, and 
was succeeded by Calvin Foster* in 1878. Parley Hammond was the 
first cashier, and his successor, Nathaniel Paine, has held that office 
since 1857. It was organized as a national bank in 1864. 

The First National Bank, organized June 5, 1863, with a capital of 
$100,000, was, as its name implies, the first one of the kind in Worces- 
ter. It was also the second in the State, and the seventy-ninth in the 
whole country. The first Board of Directors consisted of Parley Ham- 
mond, Ichabod Washburn, Nathan Washburn, Timothy W. Wellington, 
George Draper (of Milford), Edward A. Goodnow, Hartley Williams, 
Charles B. Pratt and Alexander Thayer. Mr. Hammond was the first 
president, and Mr. Goodnow was president from Janiiary, 1867, to 1894, 
when he was succeeded by Albert H. Waite. Lewis W. Hammond 
was the first cashier, and was succeeded by Arthur A. Goodell July 18, 
1864; George F. Wood, vSeptember i, 1869; Arthur M. Stone, April 6, 
1874; Albert H. Waite, March, 1879, and Gilbert K. Rand, January, 
1894. The bank was on the second floor at Harrington corner, but in 
1869 moved into a new building just south of Pearl street, and in 
December, 1894, to its present quarters opposite the Common. The 
original charter expired in June, 1882, but as Congress had not per- 
fected the necessary legislation which, a month later, gave existing 
banks the privilege of so amending their original articles of association 
as to extend their "period of succession" by an additional term of 
twenty years, another "First" National Bank of Worcester was there- 
fore organized June 4, 1882, which succeeded the former without any 
interruption or friction. 

The Worcester County Institution for Savings was an outgrowth of 
the success of the Worcester Bank, and was founded in 1828, receiving 
its charter on February 8. It was the first institution of its kind in this 
part of the vState, and received the support of solid business men from 
all quarters. The members of the corporation represented almost every 
town in the county. Daniel Waldo, president of the Worcester Bank, 
was first president of this institution until his death in 1845. Stephen 
vSalisbury, his successor in both offices, served until 1871, when he 
resigned from the savings bank, and was succeeded b}- Alexander H. 
Bullock. Mr. Bullock continued until his sudden death in January, 
1882, when Stephen Salisbury, son of the former president, was elected 
to the office. This institution has had but three treasurers during the 

* Deceased November 12, 1S9S. See sketch in Biographical Department. 



.^ 




SAMUEL R. HEYWOOD. 



The Worcester of li 



373 



seventy years of its existence: Samuel Jennison, to 1853; Cliarles A. 
Hamilton, to November, 1879; and Charles A. Chase. The secretaries 
have been: Isaac Goodwin, 1828; William Lincoln, 1833; Thomas Kin- 
nicutt, 1843; John C. B. Davis, 1848; Joseph Mason, 1850; Joseph 
TrmnbuU, 1853; J. Henry Hill, 1854; Charles F. Aldrich, 1890. The 
bank was at first opened on Wednesday afternoons only, between 2 and 
5 o'clock. The first deposit was made by Honorable Abijah Bigelow in 
the name of his daughter, Miss Hannah Bigelow. The amount was 
$15, and it was put in June 4, 1828. The present number of depositors 




BANK BUILDING, FOSTER STREET. 

is 30,840, and the deposits amount to $14,685,681. The guaranty fund 
is $732,000. 

The Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank was incorporated April i, 
1854, at the time when the new idea of receiving deposits of less than 
one dollar was coming in vogue, and has now a large number of such 
accounts upon its books. Its first president was Charles L. Putnam, 
who was succeeded by George W. Richardson in 1877, Clarendon Harris 
in 1878, and Elijah B. Stoddard in 1884. Clarendon Harris, who was at 
the same time secretary of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company, 
was treasurer of this bank for the first eighteen years, being succeeded 
by George W. Wheeler (who had been city treasurer for many years 
previous), and by J. Stewart Brown in 18S4.' 



> 




FRANCIS H. DEWEY. 



The Worcester of li 



375 



In 1892 this bank erected an imposing brick building of six stories on 
the north corner of Main and Walnut streets, removing to its second 
story at the close of that year. Its deposits October 30, 1897, amounted 
to $6,497,363, with 24,391 depositors, and a guaranty fund of $230,000. 

The Worcester Mechanics Savings Bank was the second savings bank 
in Worcester in order of incorporation. It was chartered May 15, 1851. 




CENTRAL EXCHANGE BUILDING, MAIN STREET. 

The presidents have been: Isaac Davis, until 1S55; Alexander DeWitt, 
to 1859; John S. C. Knowlton, to 1862; Harrison Bliss, until his death 
in 1888; and J. Edwin Smith. Parley Hammond was treasurer for 
three years, and that office has been since filled for nearly forty-four 
years by Henry Woodward. Except for the first three years, its rooms 
have been in the Central Exchange, at first in rear of the Mechanics 
National Bank; but since the removal of the post office from the build- 
ing, it has occupied the rooms on the north side of the hall. The recent 



376 



The Worcester of if 



remodeling of the building has given it the long-needed spacious and 
attractive quarters. Its last return to the State showed deposits of 
$5,843,090, with a guaranty fund of $208,000, and 9,328 depos- 
itors. 

On May 13, 1864, was incorporated the People's vSavings Bank, which 
began business in the second storv at the south corner of Main and Pleasant 

streets. Its business rapidly 



increased, and in 1 869 it moved 
into its own marble-front build- 
ing on Main street, opposite 
the Common. Its first presi- 
dent was John C. Mason, who 
resigned January 27, 1877, 
and was succeeded by William 
Cross, who resigned in 1879. 
Lucius J. Knowles filled the 
office until his death, Feb- 
ruary 25, 1884, and was suc- 
ceeded by Samuel R. Hey wood. 
Charles M. Bent has been 
treasurer from the organiza- 
tion of the bank. It had 
16,699 open accounts on Octo- 
ber 30, 1897, representing 
deposits of $7,756,195, with 
a guaranty fund of $294,000. 
In the period of thirty-one 
years following the incorpora. 
tion of the People's Savings 
Bank in 1864, Worcester had 
doubled in population, valua- 
tion, business, and extent of 
.settled territor}'. In 1895 the 
four existing savings banks 
had so large an accumulation 
of deposits that the time 
seemed ripe for another bank, and the Bay State Savings Bank 
was chartered in that year, beginning business on July i in the Taylor 
building opposite the Common. Richard Healy is president, and George 
McAleer, treasurer. On October. 30, 1897, it had 531 depositors, with 
$141,868 to their credit. The new institution was well received by the 
bank men of the city, and was not considered as a rival or competitor. 
The most cordial relations are maintained on both sides. 




PEOPLE'S SAVINGS BAH<; BUILDING. 



The Worcester of i! 



377 



The vast issue of bonds by the national government during the great 
Rebellion, accompanied and followed by the issues by states, municipal- 
ities and railroads, created a demand for depositories where the people 
could safely store their securities and other personal property of value. 

The Worcester Safe Deposit & Trust Company received its first 
charter from the State as the Worcester vSafe Deposit Company in 
March, 1868, and its sec- 
end in May, 1869. It PJ^t i 
receives deposits subject 
to check at sight, paying 
interest of two per cent. 
per annum on daily bal- 
ances of $100 or over, 
but does not issue bills. 
It is also authorized to 
act as trustee in probate 
•matters and the like. It 
assumes the direct cus- 
tody of valuables, and lets 
.small safes in its strong- 
vaults, to which the 
renter alone has access. 
Its capital is $200,000, 
with a surplus of $100,- 
000, and deposits (October 
30, 1897) $2,132,022. Its 
trust accounts, a sepa- 
rate department, then 
amounted to $882,347. 
George M. Rice was the 
first president, succeeded 
by George S. Barton in 
1890. On Mr. Barton's 
death in 1891, Secretarv 
Edward F. Bisco was 
promoted to the position. city bank building. 

Samuel T. Bigelow, the first secretary, was succeeded by Mr. Bisco in 
1872, and Samuel G. Clary, who had long been teller, was made secretar\^ 
in 1 89 1. 

The State Safe Deposit Company was organized in 1887, solely for 
the purpose indicated by its name. It began business in an annex of 
the State Mutual building (recently sold to the Worcester Gas Light 
•Company), with vaults constructed for its own use, and has recently 




378 



The Worcester of 189S. 




'ILLIAM WOODWARD. 



removed to the new building of the 
Life Assurance Company, where it 
has an equipment unsurpassed by 
that of any company in the State. 
A. George Bullock has been presi- 
dent from the start, Henry M. Wit- 
ter, secretary, and Halleck Bartlett, 
manager. 

The business of the two local safe 
deposit companies received a new 
impetus as a result of the existing 
war with Spain. The residents of 
the seaboard cities secured boxes in 
the vaults, some depositing their 
securities and others holding the 
keys, that they might bring their 
valuables to a place of safety in 
case of a threatened visit to the sea- 
coast bv a hostile fleet. 



COOPERATIVE BANKS, 

similar to the building associations which have been of so much 
benefit in Philadelphia and elsewhere, are among the institutions of 
Worcester which serve as media between the borrower and the lender. 
In their case, the borrower is to some extent a borrower from himself. 

The Worcester Cooperative Bank, 
vStephen C. Earle, president, was 
incorporated October ig, 1877, and 
has $415,315 loaned on mortgages. 

The Home Cooperative Bank, Enoch 
H. Towne, president, has $358,500 on 
mortgages, and was incorporated 
June 10, 1882. 

The Equity Cooperative Bank was 
incorporated on February 9, 1887. 
Charles L. Gates is president, and 
the amount loaned on mortgages 
(figures from last annual report) 
$287,500. 

The three cooperative banks have 
quarters in common in the Walker 
building, south corner of Main and charles m. bent.. 




The Worcester of 1898. 



379' 




Alechanic streets. Thomas J. Hastings 
holds the offices of secretary and treas- 
urer of all ; and Edward B. Glasgow is. 
their solicitor. 

FIRE AND LIFE INSURANCE. 

The benefit of insurance against fire 
impressed itself upon the people of this 
section early in this century, leading to 
the incorporation of the Worcester Mu- 
tual Fii'e Insurance Compan}' seventy- 
five years ago, or February 11, 1823. 
Levi Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln 
were the two corporators from Worces- 
RiCHARD HEALv. t^r, aud there were sixteen from other 

towns in the county. The charter re- 
quired that no policy should be issued tmtil subscriptions for at least 
$200,000 worth should be received; that the field of operations should 
be limited to this county, and that property should not be insured 
for more than three-fourths of its value. The first policy, signed by 
Rejoice Newton, president, and William D. Wheeler, secretary, was 
issued May 14, 1824. It insured Luther and Daniel Goddard $1,500 
on their dwelling-house, wood-house and barn, and $1,100 on their brick 
store. The buildings were on the east side of Main street, midway be 
tween Thomas and School streets. The house and store are still 
standing. The policy was to run for seven years, the rate being one and 
three-fourths per cent, for the house and 
barn, and one and three-eighths for the 
store. Following the rule of limiting 
fire risks to the safest kinds of prop- 
erty, this company has always paid 
large dividends to the policy-holders, 
the rate having for a considerable time 
been eighty per cent, of the premium 
monc)-. It now issues policies for five 
years or less, and returns seventy per 
cent, of the dividend on the long-term 
policies. Isaac Goodwin was secretary 
of the company from December, 1828, 
to 1832; Anthony Chase, to 1853; and 
Charles M. Miles, to 1879. Frederic 
W. Paine was president from 183 1 george mcaleer. 




38o The Worcester of 1898. 

to 1853; Anthony Chase, 1853 to 1879; and Ebenezer Torrey, 1879 to 
18S8. Charles M. Miles was vice-president and manager from 1879 
nntil his death in 1887. John A. Fayerweather is now the president; 
Roger F. Uphara, secretary and treasurer ; and Frank P. Kendall, assist- 
ant secretary. For several years past the company has taken risks 
■outside of this countv, but still confines itself within the limits of 
the Commonwealth. This company had at risk December 31, 1897, 
$42,108,846, with assets of $741,448 and a permanent fund of $420,000. 

The Merchants & Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company was 
organized in 1846, to meet the wants of merchants whose goods could 
not be insured in the older company, and also, it would appear, to 
attract the patronage of the farmers. Isaac Davis was president until 
1884, when he was succeeded by John D. Washburn. The secretaries 
have been: Charles L. Putnam, John D. Washburn and Elijah B. Stod- 
dard. It owns the building in which the Central and Citizens Banks 
and the vState Mutual Life Assurance Company were located at different 
periods of their history. Assets December 3 1 , 1897, $233,659; amount 
at risk, $21,750,265; permanent fund, $121,574. 

The First National Fire Insurance Company, organized in 1869, is 
retiring from business. The People's Fire Insurance Company, the Bay 
vState Fire Insurance Company and the Central Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company were dragged down by the great Boston fire of 1871, and 
compelled to abandon the business. 

The Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance Company was chartered 
in 1834 for the special purpose of insuring manufacturing property. 
Its rooms were over the Citizens Bank. It was reorganized after 
a temporary suspension, and in 1861 was merged with the Mechan- 
ics Mutual, retaining its own name. Philip W. Moen is president, 
and Waldo E. Buck, secretary. Assets, $334,222; amount at ri.sk, 

$35,243,155- 

The State Mutual Life Assurance Company was organized in 1845 
with a perpetual charter. Its first president, John Davis; its third 
president, Alexander H. Bullock, and Emory Washburn, for a long time 
vice-president, were during their lives chief magistrates of the Common- 
wealth. John Milton Earle, a director and vice-president until his 
death, is gratefully remembered for his successful efforts as a member 
of the Legislature in securing a charter for the company, in the face of 
a determined opposition from other companies existing at the time. 
For the first twenty years, the company carried a guaranty capital of 
$20,000, but since that time it has been purely mutual. The company 
has been prudently managed from the start. To meet its own wants, 
as well as to make a safe investment of a portion of its large assets, 
the company has recently erected a magnificent marble building, nine 



The Worcester of 1898. 381 

stories in height, at the corner of Main and Maple streets, a landmark 
and an ornament to the cit}^ 

Isaac Davis succeeded his uncle. Governor Davis, as president in 
1853, serving for twenty-nine years. Governor Bullock, his successor, 
served but a few weeks, dying suddenly on January 17, 1882. He 
was succeeded by Philip L. Moen, who served but one year, resigning- 
on account of the great pressure of his private business, and being 
succeeded by the present incumbent, Augustus George Bullock. Clar- 
endon Harris was secretary, and William Dickinson was treasurer from 
1S45 to 1883. The former office has since been filled by Henry M. 
Witter, and President Bullock acts as treasurer. The amount of insur- 
ance in force on January i, i8g8, on policies issued by this company 
was $71,274,718. Its assets were $13,495,690, and the surplus above- 
liabilities $1,298,797. 



State Mutual Life Assurance Company. — The building erected and occu- 
pied by the State Mutual Life Assurance Company at the corner of Main 
and Maple streets is a noble structure of beauty in proportion and elegance 
in detail. It is one of the largest and most complete oihce buildings in the 
country, and is architecturally a credit to the city. It was constructed, 
after plans by Peabody & Stearns of Boston, by the Norcross Brothers 
in their usual substantial and thorough manner. The material is white 
marble built in solid blocks into a steel frame, after the Chicago plan. The 
structure rises to the height of nine stories above the basement. The 
ground floor is devoted to four capacious stores and the main entrance. 
The safe deposit vaults of the State Safe Deposit Company are also located 
on this floor. The second floor is occupied by the elegant headquarters and 
offices of the assurance company. Rising above are six floors (each with 
an area of 138 feet by 123 feet), comprising in the whole 201 offices, which 
are furnished with all the modern appointments. The ninth floor is occu- 
pied by club rooms and a restaurant. Four passenger elevators, built by 
the Sprague Company of New York City, afl^ord ample accommodation to- 
the tenants and visitors to the building, while freight elevators are located 
in the rear. 

The electric and heating plants are located in a separate building back 
of the main structure, and the former is one of the largest isolated plants 
in Massachusetts. It comprises three direct connected units of 150 horse 
power each. The engines are of the Armington & Sims pattern. The 
storage battery of 2,400 ampere hours' capacity runs the elevators and 
lights after 6.30 p. m. The capacity is 4,800 candle-power incandescent 
lights. The switchboard is one of the finest in the State. It is made of 
tourteen white Italian marble slabs, and is equipped with all the latest 
designs for circuit-breaking and switches, also meters for registering the. 
.amount of current used by each line in the building. It was built by the: 



Cf •"'*«&■ 




? 




'^4 i '3 



» ri I !-r ^W m^ 




STATE MUTUAL BUILDING. 



The Worcester of 1898. 383 

General Electric Company of Schenectady, New York, and cost $2,000. 
The boiler plant consists of four 100 horse-power horizontal tubular boilers, 
made by the Stewart Boiler Works of Worcester. The engine-room meas- 
ures about thirty by fifty feet floor space, with white tiles and enameled 
brick sides. 

State Mutual Life Assurance Company was chartered March i6, 1844. 
A guaranteed capital of $100,000 was required, of which one-half was to 
be paid in cash, the stockholders to stand pledged for the other half at 
the call of the company, the interest on the paid-up stock not to exceed 
seven per cent. Provision was made in the charter for the redemption of 
the stock, one-third of the surplus being required to be held as a reserve 
fund to be applied to the redemption of the guarantee stock. The company 
was organized and issued the first policy on the first day of June, 1845. 
The first executive officers were: Honorable John Davis, President; Hon- 
orable Isaac Davis, First Vice-President; Honorable Stephen Salisbury, 
Second Vice-President; William Dickinson, Treasurer; Clarendon Harris, 
Secretary; John Green, M. D., Consulting Physician; B. F. Hey wood, M. 
D., and Joseph Sargent, M. D., Assistant Consulting Physicians. In June, 
1865, twenty years after organization, the guarantee capital was retired in 
accordance with the provisions of the charter, and from that time the 
company has been purely mutual. At the time the capital stock was 
retired, the company had outstanding and in force 2,236 policies, insuring 
■$3i29S,075, with an annual premium income of $76,413, and an interest 
income of $53,623 — a total of $130,036. 

The company was practically under the management of the same Board 
of Directors from 1845 to 1882. Up to the latter date there had been only 
two presidents. Governor John Davis, the first president, died in 1853, 
after a service of eight years. His successor. Honorable Isaac Davis, 
succeeded the governor, and held the office twenty-eight years. The 
immediate successor of Honorable Isaac Davis was Governor A. H. Bullock. 
On the decease of Governor Bullock, in the same month in which he was 
elected president, the Honorable P. L. Moen was chosen to fill out the 
unexpired term. At the ensuing annual meeting President A. G. Bullock 
was called to succeed his honored father. From January, 1883, the time 
the present incumbent entered upon the duties of his office, the company 
has made a rapid and so'lid growth. At that date the company had in force 
5,165 polices, insuring $12,016,345. The annual income amounted to 
$501,068, of which $382,871 constituted the income from premiums, and 
$118,197 the interest on invested funds. The assets then amounted to 
$3,099,248; the liabilities to $2,452,804; the surplus to $646,444. 

The above statistics, compared with the corresponding ones of January, 
1898, will show the progress made by the company during a period of 
fifteen years. January, 1898, the number of policies in force was 23,301; 
the insurance in force, $65,977,132. The total income of the preceding 
year was $3,193,832.64, of which the income from premiums was $2,629,- 
662.40; from interest on the invested funds, $564, 170.24; the assets were 
$13,455,690.32; the liabilities, $12,156,897 ; the surplus, $1,298,793.32. Its 




WORCESTER MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE CO. BUILDING. 



The Worcester of 1898. 385 

present officers are: A. G. Bullock, President and Treasurer; Thomas H 
Gage, Vice-President; Henry M. Witter, Secretary; and Thomas H Gasje 
M. D., and Albert Wood, M. D., Medical Directors; William E Starr' 
Actuary; B. H. Wright, Superintendent of Agencies. 

The Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Company Previous to the year 

1835 the town of Worcester possessed no adequate force, facilities or 
appliances for use in extinguishing fires. The only assurance and hope 
of assistance or protection at times of such calamity was in the efficiency 
of the two fire societies-the Worcester, formed in 1793, and the Mutual 
formed m 1822, m their management of the clumsy hand-engine owned iri 
the town, and their control of the "bucket-brigade," which comprised the 
members of the two organizations and such individuals as volunteered or 
were impressed for duty. Large conflagrations in country towns owing to 
the nature and isolation of buildings, were not frequent, but in almost 
every instance, large or small, the loss was, for obvious reasons total and 
the strength of the sentiment for prevention or protection excited by the 
event was in proportion to its importance. It is said "that the immediate 
moving influence to the formation of the Worcester Fire Society in 1793 
was m a then recent fire, by which the valuable cloth manufactory of 
Cornelius and Peter Stowell, at or near the present corner of Park and 
Washington streets, was wholly consumed, with no power in the by- 
standers but to witness the conflagration in helpless inefficiency " Ao-ain 
in 1815, there can be no doubt that the solicitude of the inhabitants" was 
quickened by the great fire of February 18 of that vear, which destroyed 
the house, store and merchandise of Samuel Brazer, and the bake-house 
and dwellings of the Flagg brothers on the site of the present Flagg build- 
ing on Mam street, occasioning a loss of over $ro,ooo, a large sum at that 
time. The fact that the sympathy of the sufferers' townsmen impelled 
them to subscribe $2,700, while $1,800 was contributed in other places 
probably caused the inhabitants of this region to think seriously of some 
more certain form of indemnity in case their property should be destroyed 
and as this fire was followed by others in the surrounding neighborhood of 
only less importance to this example, the sentiment crystallized, and the 
result was the organization of the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Com- 
pany, now the most venerable as well as one of the most honorable in point 
of service of the mutual companies of this State. Its charter, granted 
February u, 1823, ante-dates that of any other incorporated mutual fire 
insurance company in Massachusetts. Its first president was Levi Lincoln 
who withm a year or two, resigned to become governor of the Common- 
wealth, and m succeeding years to fill other high offices, including that of 
hrst mayor of the city of Worcester in 1848. The first Board of Directors 
comprised such eminent citizens of the county as Rejoice Newton, Daniel 
Waldo, Aaron Tufts, Samuel M. Burnside, Abijah Bigelow, Bezaleel Taft 
Jr., Isaac Goodwin, Seth Lee and Nathaniel P. Denny. The organization 
has been maintained to the present time by worthy successors of these men 
giving a sense of security to those who are or have been fortunate enough 
to possess certificates of its protection. ' 

25 



^aiiiSBSSB^^^-- ^^^Wl^^.^ _,^j^|^^^ 




*, j 


\«iMv ^. S, 


n i 




tt-t tk. «* ttj 




1 




1 


^^^^^K ...^. -^v^^.^ ^^^y ^ 


. ^- 1 







The Worcester of 1898. 387 

As originally formed the benefits of the company were intended to be 
confined to the property-owners of the county, but this restriction was 
later relaxed to include those within the State. The first policy issued was 
on the 14th of May, 1824, to Luther and Daniel Goddard, to cover property 
on Main street, and during the first year the business amounted to $153,815, 
in amount insured, the premiums received to $2,169.86, and the expenses of 
the company were $610.79. The first loss paid was in 1828, and amounted 
to $i,Soo.* It was then the custom that each person holding a policy 
should sign on the records themselves that they had received the original 
policy, and the early archives of the company are rich in possession of the 
autographs of prominent property-owners of the period of from fifty to 
seventy-five years ago who have played an important part in the city and 
country's history and development. 

As evidence of the estimation in which the prospective services of this 
company in conserving the property interests of the county were held at 
the time of its organization, the fact can be stated that an office was given 
for its use and occupancy in the old Court House (which has been demolished 
the present year) in order to serve the convenience of residents of the 
county whose business brought them to the courts or the registry of deeds. 
The company remained in the old building until 1851, when its quarters 
were removed to the new stone Court House. Here it transacted business 
until its necessities imperatively demanded more room, and in 1867 it took 
possession of the west suite of rooms on the second floor of the bank block 
on Foster street. In October, 1873, the company purchased the property 
^t 373-377 Main street, and has since occupied offices in the second story 
of that building, f 

That the company has been an important factor in times past in incul- 
cating a sound and practical policy in regard to the care of buildings and 
safeguarding against fire by those in authority, and has kept watch and 
ward of the public interest, is shown by an extract from the town records 
of Worcester in 1845. This also exhibits the condition of a large number of 
dwellings and other buildings in the place at that time, with the comments 
expressed by the town fathers: "The Board of Selectmen have had an 
opportunity of seeing the report made to the officers of the [Worcester 
Mutual Fire Insurance] Company, and the account is truly alarming. It is 
a cause of much surprise to those who have been informed of the facts 
that fires in this village have not been a daily occurrence from the culpable 
carelessness of the occupants of buildings; — ashes, a prolific source of fire, 
were found in every story of a house, barreled up in garrets, in closets 
and in cellars — stove-pipes passing through wood without any protection — 
fire-boards in places where stoves enter the chimneys — chimneys badly 
constructed, some of them only two or four inches in thickness of walls, 
and the brick so badly laid that holes could be found through which sticks 

* To avoid repetition, much in detail of the financial histor>-, and the names of succeed- 
ing officers of the organization, given in Charles A. Chase's chapter on the Financial 
Institutions of Worcester on pages 363-3S1 of this volume, are omitted here. 

t See accompanying illustration. 



388 The Worcester of 1898. 

could be passed into the centre of the chimney without obstruction from 
brick or mortar, and in some of these instances fire-boards had been secured 
closely upon the sides of the chimneys. It is most manifest that to the 
superintending care of a kind providence alone have we been indebted for 
preservation from the ravages of most destructive fires." 

The company's whole history, from its foundation to the present time, 
nearly seventy-five years, has been an exceptionally prosperous one, and it 
has returned to its policy-holders dividends as high as ninety-six per cent., 
which returns are probably larger than ever made by any other mutual 
company in this country doing a general dwelling-house business. The 
company has for a long period of years paid seventy per cent, dividends 
on expiring five years' policies and fifty per cent, on expiring three years' 
policies and twenty-five per cent, on expiring one year's policies, and has 
returned the policy-holder dividends amounting to over $700,000 the past 
ten years alone. The company has paid all losses promptly, and is to-day 
a tower of strength and stability in the insurance circles of New England. 
By insuring only the safest class of property against loss by fire or light- 
ning, they are enabled to quote the lowest possible rate on first-class 
property compatible with strong security, and certainly no safer and more 
judicious investment can be made, as assuredly no more liberal inducements 
are offered, by any other sound or reliable company to owners of property. 
The introduction and promiscuous use of kerosene and gasolene oil, together 
with the careless handling of matches by smokers, as well as the immense 
influx of immigration to this country by people who are not blessed with 
careful habits, have increased the fire loss ratio immensely, and the divi- 
dends which the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Company has paid the 
policy-holders show in a more eloquent manner than anything we might 
say the careful and conservative manner that has characterized the con- 
duct of all its affairs in overcoming these conditions. 

The present Board of Directors of the company is composed of the 
following gentlemen : John A. Fayerweather, Westborough ; Honorable Lewis 
N. Gilbert, Ware; Stephen Sawyer, Worcester; Major B. D. Dwinnell, 
Fitchburg; Honorable H. C. Greeley, Clinton; Lyman A. Ely, Worcester; 
Honorable A. F. Whitin, Whitinsville; Caleb Colvin, Worcester; Roger F. 
Upham, Worcester; who are represented in the accompanying illustration. 

The Board of Officers is composed of John A. Fayerweather, President ; 
Roger F. Upham, Secretary and Treasurer; and Frank P. Kendall, Assistant 
Secretarv. 



PUBLIC SERVICE. 



STEAM RAILROADS. 

JjllIE first railroad communication with Worcester was in the open- 
lUJ ing of the Boston & Worcester railroad in 1835. At that time 
such undertakings were new, and before their utility was practically 
demonstrated were regarded with disfavor. Much opposition was 
manifested during the period in which this railroad was being con- 
structed, and once a meeting of the stockholders was called, for the 
purpose of putting a stop to the operations in progress and abandoning 
the enterprise. But the faith and persistency of a few strong minds 
prevailed, and all obstacles were overcome, and the road to Av'orcester 
was opened to travel July 6 of the above-named year. Immediately 
steps were taken to extend the line westward, as the main purpose of 
the Boston capitalists, who had originated the project, had been to 
open a highway to the west to connect with the Erie canal, and divert 
some portion of the traffic through that great waterway eastward, and 
also that from the western part of New England from its threatened 
tendency to flow to New York. But Worcester people felt at that time 
that there was a local advantage in keeping the place a terminus of the 
railway, and so at first opposed the extension, but without effect, and 
the year 1839 witnessed the opening of the western railroad to Spring- 
field. Two years later the road to Albany was completed. The tw^o 
corporations, though in reality sections of one system, were nominally 
separate concerns, and were operated as such until 1867, when a con- 
solidation was effected under the name of the Boston & Albany Rail- 
road Company, which is now one of the largest and most successful 
corporations in the country. It is the most important route through 
New England to the West, the New York Central being virtually'' a 
continuation of this line, affording direct communication with Chicago 
and the Pacific. It controls a total length of 388.68 miles of line. 
This railroad is equipped with 242 locomotives; 247 passenger cars; 
60 baggage, mail and express; freight (box. 3,434; stock, 29; coal, 
1,528; flat, 802), 5,798; caboose, 80; other, 449; making a total of 6,693 



The Worcester of 1898. 391 

cars of all descriptions. The total assets of the company as given in 
the last report of the Railroad Commissioners are $36,518,008.60. 

The next railroad out of Worcester to be constructed was the Nor- 
wich, running south fifty-eight miles. This route became very popular, 
as being the most direct to New York city, connecting with the Sound 
boats at New London. The Norwich & Worcester railroad was leased 
in 1869 by the New York & New England Company for a period of 
ninety-nine years. It is now a part of the New York, New Haven & 
Hartford system, which had previously obtained control of the Provi- 
dence & Worcester road. 

The Providence & Worcester railroad was opened in 1847, entirely 
superseding the old Blackstone canal, which had been constructed 
twenty years previously, and which had promised so much in the 
beginning. Over fifty miles of track are now used on this section. 
In 1888 the road was leased by the New York, Providence & Boston 
Company, and was operated by that corporation until it was absorbed 
by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, of which 
it now forms the Worcester division. 

The demand for a line of communication with the north early became 
imperative, and in 1848 the Worcester & Nashua railroad was put in 
operation. In 1885 the road, with its extension to Rochester, N. H., 
was leased by the Boston 8z Maine, and is now operated as a part of 
that great system. The Boston & j\Iaine railroad covers the north- 
eastern part of Massachusetts, nearly the whole of New Hampshire 
and parts of Maine and Vermont, and also has through or connecting 
trains to Montreal and the provinces. Its service is of great import- 
ance to Worcester, being the great northern and eastern outlet for 
passengers and freight. 

The Fitchburg & Worcester railroad was built from Fitchburg to 
Sterling Junction, where it connected with the Worcester & Nashua 
road. It was opened to travel in 1850. It is now the northern division 
of the New York, New Haven & Hartf(.)rd railroad, which has absorbed 
and operates the Old Colony system. Owing to its position as a bond 
of union between the northern and southern parts of the county, this 
railroad is especially valuable, and annually attracts to this city many 
thousands of tons of freight that would otherwise go to Boston or 
Springfield. 

The Fitchburg & Worcester branch of the Old Colony railroad has 
aided materially in establishing a sharp competition for Western 
business. 

The Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad was incorporated in 1847 as 
the Barre & Worcester Railroad. It was opened to traffic in 1871, and 
was designed to open another route to the West. While it had a fair 



392 



The Worcester of 1898. 




OF G. HENRY WHITCOMB, 51 HARVARD STREET. 



local business, and was a gTcat accommodation to shippers along the 
line, it was never a paying undertaking. It was dependent upon the 
Fiteliburg Railroad for its through traffic, and in 1886 it was sold to 
that corporation. The change of management marked the beginning 
of a new era for the road, and to-day it undoubtedly contributes a 
handsome sum to the Fitchburg road's net profits. 

It will be seen by the above summary that all the roads entering 
Worcester are operated by four large railroad corporations — the Boston 
& Albany, the Boston & ]\Iaine, the New York, New Haven & Hartford, 
and the Fitchburg. 

The switching-yards of all the roads are ample, the city having all 
that could be desired in what are called terminal facilities. The 
freight-houses are capacious and convenient, and, in the main, the 
approaches are equally advantageous. It will be seen that every point 
of the compass is reached by the railroad lines leading from the city. 
By means of these roads and of the electrics, the people of surrounding 
towns become patrons of the various industries of Worcester. 

The Worcester Union Passenger Station is one of the finest owned 
by the Boston & Albany Railroad Company. The movement for its 
construction was inaugurated in 1873, when the company decided by 



The Worcester of 1898. 393 

unanimous vote that their old quarters on Foster street were inade- 
quate to accommodate their largely increasing business. The station 
was begun in 1874, and completed the following year. By a legislative 
act all the railroads coming into or passing through Worcester were 
required to enter it. The other roads pay rent to the Boston & Albany, 
the latter fui"nishing all the employees about the station. The build- 
ing is 250 feet wide, 450 feet long, the whole structure covering an 
area of about four acres of land. The general architecture is Gothic 
in style, with a clock tower on the west corner. The internal arrange- 
ments are a model of convenience, combined with a reasonable economy 
and space. 

There are in the station a first-class dining-room and news-room, and 
also a parcel-room, with which is connected a baggage-transfer, and 
which is the headquarters for all carriages at the station. Tickets for 
all the railroads entering Worcester are on sale at the Union .Station 
ticket-office, covering all points in the United States and Canada via 
all routes. 

Number of passenger trains leaving Worcester daily: 

Boston & Albany raih^oad going east, . . ig 
Boston & Albany railroad going west, . . i8 
New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad (Provi- 
dence & Worcester), . . . . . II 

New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad (Nor- 
wich & Worcester), ...... 7 

Boston & Maine railroad, . . . . . 10 

Fitchburg railroad, ...... 5 

Total 70 

There are also the same number of passenger trains arriving in 
Worcester daily, making the total number of trains arriving and 
departing each day 140. 

Of the eighteen trains going west via the Boston & Albany railroad, 
four are through trains to New York city, and five make through 
connections for Chicago and the West. 

In addition to the four trains to New York citv via the Boston & 
Albany railroad, making western and southern connections, there are 
two boat lines in winter and three in summer for New York city, with 
which through trains from Worcester via the New York, New Haven 
& Hartford railroads connect. Thev are the Norwich line and Ston- 
ington line, running all the year round, and the Providence line, run- 
ning during the summer only. 

Three trains daily via the Fitchburg railroad connect at Gardner with 
through trains for the West. There are also three trains dailv making 



394 



The Worcester of 1898. 



through connection for Montreal via the Fitchburg railroad, and two 
of these make through connections at Montreal for the West. 

There are two trains daily leaving Worcester via the Boston & 
Maine railroad, making connections for Maine points as far as Bangor, 
and one of these connects through for points in Nova Scotia and New 
Brunswick. The Boston & Maine has three trains also making through 
connections for Montreal, two of them making connections for the 
West. 

The Worcester Railroad Men's Association was founded November 
19, 1896, by the employees of the five steam railroads entering the city 




RESIDENCE OF EDWIN S. PIERCE, 172 HIGHLAND STREET. 

at that time. It is an organization for the advancement of the moral, 
intellectual and social interests of all railroad men. The religion, 
politics or race of members are never questioned; all are welcome to 
enjoy the privilege equally. Through the generosity of all the rail- 
roads, neat and attractive rooms were fitted up and furnished at the 
Union Station. Here are found baths, games, reading-room and library, 
also a large social-hall for entertainments and other gatherings.^ The 
same generosity that fitted up and furnished the rooms provides a 
librarian, who is always glad to meet all comers and show them about. 
That the generosity of the railroads is appreciated by their employees 
is attested by the fact that nearly four-fifths of all employees in and 
about Worcester are registered as members. 



The Worcester of 1898. 395 

The number of men, residents of Worcester, employed by all the 
steam railroads is about 1,100. This number includes conductors, 
engineers and firemen, car-inspectors and repair-men, clerks, freight- 
house men and trainmen. This number of active workei^s implies the 
support of from four to five thousand of the population of the city. 
The total amount of taxes paid to the citv bv the railroads, which 
covers real estate and other property in Worcester owned by them, is 
§33,778.62. 

GRADE CROSSINGS. 

One of the gravest difficulties confronting the citizens of Worcester 
in the year 1898 is the grade-crossing problem. Whether the settle- 
ment of this matter is to involve the separating of the grade of all the 
streets and railways from Millbrook street on the north to Hammond 
street on the south, or the removal of the railroads within these limits 
and the building of a new union passenger station at South Worcester, 
the future will reveal. The matter is now in the hands of the Grade- 
Crossing Commission, appointed in conformity to an order of the City 
Council passed January 10, 1898. The members are: The president of 
the Board of Aldermen, Aldermen Hildreth and Mellen; the president 
of the Common Council, Councilmen Back, Inman and O'Leary, repre- 
senting the City Government; ^Matthew J. W^hittall, Charles G. Reed, 
William Hart, James Logan and Irving E. Comins, representing the 
citizens. 

STREET RAILWAYS. 

Worcester Consolidated Street Railway. 

The adoption of electricity as power by the street railway systems of 
Worcester has done much not only for the convenience of the public, 
but in the general development of the city and increasing the city's 
valuation. 

The oldest and largest of the electric railway systems in which 
Worcester is interested, is that of the Worcester Consolidated Street 
Railway Company. This company resulted from the consolidation of 
two horse railway systems — those of the Citizens Street Railway Com- 
pany and Worcester Street Railway Company, in 1887. The present 
corporate name was then assumed, as were the rights and franchises of 
the two old companies. 

The latter were comparatively insignificant as regards either mileage, 
traffic or speed. Less than seven miles of track was in operation when 
consolidation was effected, and less than one and three-quarters million 
passengers were carried the previous year. In contrast with this about 
forty-five miles are now operated, and, in round figures, upward of ten 



The Worcester of 1898. 397 

million passengers will have been carried the present fiscal year. The 
marked difference can be credited largely to one cause — the adoption 
of electricity for power. . 

Previous to and including 1892, the old-fashioned slow-going horse-car 
had been depended upon, but that year the companv was granted the 
right to change its system to electric propulsion. In 1893 the work of 
reconstruction was begun, a power-station was established, and before 
the close of that year all of the cars were run by electric power. 

The power-station is located on the line of the Boston & Albany 
Railroad, a short distance from Webster square. It is in a substantial 
brick building, in one side of which are nine horizontal tubular boilers, 
and in the other are the engines and electric machinery. This year the 
engine capacity of the plant has been nearly doubled, as in the spring a 
1,500 horse-power engine, the largest vertical engine in New England 
directly connected with a generator, was installed. Including this the 
company now has five Lake Erie cross compound condensing engines 
in operation, and a total engine capacity of 3,500 horse-power. The 
plant throughout is thoroughly modern, and in quality of apparatus and 
general equipment no plant is better fitted. It has been in contin- 
uous operation for nearly five years, and in this time not a car has been 
delayed through fault of or mishap at the power-station, a record 
rarely equaled. 

Diverging in ten different routes, the company's lines now extend to 
every part of the city. Many of them are double-tracked, all are in 
excellent condition, and prompt and satisfactorj^ service is the result. 

It is not the object of this article to enumerate the advantages 
accruing to Worcester and its people from this system. But aside 
from its convenience and the stimulus to business afforded by rapid 
transit and in quick and satisfactory service, in bringing the centre of 
the cit}' into closer communication with the suburbs, a development 
and consequent appreciation of property along and near the lines must 
be felt, comfortable homes away from the crowded districts are made 
possible, and in the warmer seasons it affords to people of moderate 
means an opportunity for indulging in out-door air and recreation at 
little cost. 

In 1893 a large brick structure was erected on Jklarket street for car 
storage and office purposes. All of the offices are on the second floor 
of this building. The late Charles B. Pratt had been president of the 
company for many years, and following his death, in May of this year, 
Francis H. Dewey was elected to the presidency. The other officers of 
the company are, and for sometime past have been : A. George Bullock, 
Vice-President; A. H. Stone, Treasurer; and John N. Akarman, Super- ' 
intendent. 



398 The Worcester of 1898. 

The line to Grafton was constructed by the Consolidated Company in 
the fall of 1898. This road, which extends to the centre of Grafton 
through North Grafton, is about eight miles in length. 

The Worcester & Suburban Street Rah. way. 

The Worcester & Suburban .Street Railway Company was organized 
in 1890. This company operates the line to Leicester and Spencer, 
connecting with the Brookfields and Warren ; also the line to Millbury, 
which was incorporated under the name of the Worcester & Blackstone 
Valley Street Railway Company, and later was leased by the Worcester 
& Stiburban. The Leicester road was opened in 1891, and the Millbury 
road in 1892. The latter forms connections with towns in the south- 
east part of the county to Northbridge, and is intended ultimately to 
connect with Providence. The power-stations are located at Leicester 
and Millbury. President, Edwin L. Watson of Worcester; Clerk and 
Treasurer, Thomas T. Robinson of Dedhain; vSuperintendent, John B. 
Gorham. 

Worcester & ]\lARLiioRouGH Street Railway. 

A charter was granted to the Worcester & Marlborough Street Rail- 
way in April, 1897, and on August 14th the first car on this line came 
into Worcester. Since that day regular trips have been made. 

The main line is from Worcester to Marlborough, passing through 
Shrewsbury and Northborough, and from the latter town a branch of 
the road extends to Westborough. This gives a total of about eighteen 
miles. 

The power-station is at Northborough. Five boilers from the Stewart 
Works, Worcester, furnish steam, and the engine capacity of the plant 
is 1,200 horse-power. The General Electric is the system used. 

This road connects at Marlborough with the electric line to Framing- 
ham, thus making a continuous electric route between the Hub and the 
Heart of the Commonwealth. 

The capital of the Worcester & Marlborough Street Railway is 
$200,000. The principal offices are at Northborough, and the company's 
officers are, and from the start have been: J. Russel Marble, President; 
Otis E. Putnam, Vice-President; S. Reed Anthony, Treasurer; Arthur 
D. McClellan, Clerk; E. P. Shaw, Jr., General Manager; and B. L. 
Dixon, Superintendent. 

Worcester & Clinton Street Railway. 

This road was incorporated under the general law in April, 1898, 
with a capital stock of $150,000, and construction was at once begun. 



The Worcester of 1898. 399 

and the road was completed and put in operation in December, 1898. 
The length of the route is nearly thirteen miles, touching a corner of 
Shrewsbury and passing through Boylston Centre to Clinton. The 
power-station is at West Berlin, one and a half miles from the line 
of the road, this place being chosen on account of its location on steam 
roads, where coal and other supplies can be cheaply and conveniently 
delivered. The station is equipped with two 350 horse-power Corliss 
engines. Half-hour trips in the winter, and fifteen-minute trips in the 
summer are planned in the schedule. The latest and most approved 
rolling stock is in use. The officers of the company are : Alexander S. 
Patten of Leominster, President; Jerome Marble of Worcester, Vice- 
President; Walter R. Dame of Clinton, Treasurer; John W. Ogden, 
.Superintendent. This line is part of a continuous electric system 
between Worcester and Fitchburg. 

Worcester & Webster .Street Railw.w. 

The Worcester & Webster Street Railwa}' Company was chartered 
in September, 1898, with a capital stock of $150,000. Dr. Julius Garst 
is President; Frederick Thayer, Vice-President; and W. A. Bailey, 
Treasurer. This line is sixteen miles in length, and runs through 
Auburn, West Auburn, North Oxford and Oxford Plain to Webster 
and Lake Chaubunagungamaug. The road-bed is partially graded. 
The power-station will be in North Oxford. 



THE TELEPHONE EXCHANGE. 

No book attempting to describe the industries of Worcester would 
be complete without giving suitable space to the telephone system, 
which in all large cities has become almost indispensable to business 
activities, and very convenient in social life. 

The first important test of the telephone was conducted twenty-one 
years ago between Salem and Boston, using a telegraph line for the 
connection. At that time about 500 people were gathered at the Essex 
Institute in Salem to hear Professor Alexander Graham Bell, the 
inventor, describe his new instrument. During the course of the 
lecture conversation was heard from Boston, and the experience was 
so novel that many people present discredited the fact that the person 
to whom they were listening was stationed sixteen miles away. The 
first regular telephone exchange was opened in New Haven, Connect- 
icut, on January 20, 1878. So rapid was the development from that 
time on that within five years there were in operation in the United 



400 



The Worcester of i! 




THE TELEPHONE EXCHANGE. 



States 725 exchanges with 97,728 subscribers. On January ist of the 
present year there were 1,025 exchanges, with aboiit 384,230 subscribers 
and 16,682 employees. It is estimated that over 3,000,000 exchange 
connections are made daily in the United States. In the principal 
central office of Boston alone there are 100,000 telephonic communica- 
tions per day. 

The Worcester exchange, which is operated by the New England 
Telephone & Telegraph Company, was organized in 1879. The earliest 
printed list of subscribers in Worcester known to be in existence is 
that of May 13, 1879, which is still preserved in the manager's office 
in this city. The list contains ninety-one names, many of them still 
subscribers to the present exchange. The Worcester exchange now 
contains 1,792 subscribers, making it second in size in the New Eng- 
land Telephone & Telegraph Company's territory. For nine years the 
telephone exchange office occupied quarters in Harrington's block, near 
the corner of Main and Front streets. In 1886 these quarters had 



The Worcester of 1898. 401 

become too small, and an office at No. 44 Front street was fitted up 
with the (then) latest multiple switchboard, which was thought to be 
of sufficient capacity to take care of the business for some years to come. 

In 1895 the company erected on the corner of [Mechanic and Norwich 
streets a fine building specially adapted for its purposes as a telephone 
central office. The building is strictly fireproof, and contains all the 
necessities and conveniences of modern architecture. In this building, 
in June, 1896, was installed a so-called "automatic signal multiple 
switchboard," the first of its type in the world. This board was fitted 
for fifteen local and eight trunk line operatives, and so arranged as to 
make it possible, by adding new sections, to accommodate more than 
3,000 subscribers. In connection with this switchboard was installed 
a power-plant for furnishing current, not unlike in appearance and 
character a small electric-lighting system. This switchboard system, 
which enables the subscriber to call the office by simply removing the 
telephone receiver from its hook, and which automatically signals the 
office when the communication is finished, is considered the ideal 
telephone system, and is now being introduced in other large cities of 
the .United States. Worcester has also been supplied with under- 
ground cables and wires covering more than 1,700 miles of insulated 
copper wires, placed in 165,000 feet of underground cable ducts. 

The recent introduction of long distance transmitters and metallic 
circuits overcomes many of the early troubles arising from noisy lines, 
making it possible now not only to communicate with any one of 40,000 
subscribers within the territory of the New England Telephone & 
Telegraph Company, but also with parties in Chicago, Milwaukee and 
other cities distant more than 1,200 miles. At no time in the history 
of the business has there been so rapid growth in number of sub- 
scribers' stations and in use of the long-line facilities as at the time of 
this writing. It is impossible to predict the future of this business. 
It is possible even now, as has been demonstrated in the Board of 
Trade rooms in Worcester, to receive music from a point 100 miles or 
more distant with such strength that it can be plainlv heard in any 
part of a large hall without the use of hand-receivers. It is possible, 
also, to communicate by speech, telephonically, by the use of a ray of 
light instead of a conducting wire. It is also possible by the use of the 
telephone to communicate between rapidly moving trains and a fixed 
station, also between two vessels connected together only by the sea. 
and from a station on shore to vessels a mile or more distant at sea by 
means of the water only as a conductor. 

In war or in peace, on land or at sea, in business and social life, 
everj'where the telephone is certainly destined to be one of the most 
active and useful factors of the twentieth centurv life. 



402 



The Worcester of 1898. 
WORCESTER GAS LIGHT COMPANY. 



The Worcester Gas Light dimpany was chartered in 1849. It was 
the first corporation formed in the city of Worcester for the purpose of 
furnishing artificial illumination. 

The original works were on Lincoln street, near Lincoln square, but 
were moved in 1869 to their present location on Quinsigamond avenue. 
The company owns about nine acres of land on this avenue, and most 
excellent w'orks, generally considered to be fully equal to any works of 
their size in the country, and of sufficient capacity to supply a large 
increased demand over their present output. 

All of the apparatus is of the most approved modern construction, 
for the manufacture of both coal and water gas. At the present time 
the company is furnishing a commercial gas composed of about equal 
parts of coal and water gas, which gives excellent results. 

The business of the company has increased very rapidly during the 
past ten years. The street mains system has been extensively enlarged, 
and each year further extensions are made to meet the public demands. 

It is the intention 
of the management to 
]ia\-e the service of this 
company as perfect as 
it is possible to make it. 
In February the com- 
pany moved into its 
new quarters at 240 
Main street in the fine 
granite building recent- 
ly purchased by them 
of the State Mutual Life 
Assurance Company. 
The offices arc very 
commodious, and every 
facility is afforded for 
doing business with the 
public in a satisfactory 
manner. 

On the first floor are 
the general offices ; on 
the second floor are the 
directors' room and the 
private offices; on the 

OFFICE BUILDING WORCESTER GAS LIGHT COMPANY. tllir<l floor al"C tlie lab- 




The Worcester of 1898. 



403 



oratories and a commodions hall, where lectures are given, from time 
to time, in the uses of gas. 

The capital stock is $500,000, and the Directors of the company are: 
Charles Dudley Lamson, A. George Bullock, Josiah H. Clarke, Francis 
H. Dewey, Albert Wood, Samuel B. Woodward ; President and General 
Manager, Charles Dudley Lamson ; Treasurer and Clerk, James P. 
Hamilton. 

WORCESTER ELECTRIC LIGHT CO. 

In 1883 electricity for lighting and power purposes was introduced 
into Worcester, the Worcester Electric Light Company, a corporation 
chartered to furnish electric light, heat and power in the city of 
Worcester, having been organized that year. The original capital of 
the company was $100,000, and increased from time to time until it 
became, as at present, $300,000. 

The initial plant was near Franklin square; but in 1889 a tract of 
some 61,000 square feet on Faraday street was secured, and in the fall 
of that year the present exceptionally fine power-station, one of the best 
in the L^nion, was erected. 




MARBLE SWITCHBOARD IN ELECTRIC LIGHT STATION. 



The Worcester of 1898. 405 

The main building is a substantial brick stnicture having ground 
lines 200x75 feet, and is two stories high above the basement. The 
engine-room is 1 12 X42 feet, and the boiler-house is 150x46 feet. 

The machinery-room embraces all of the main floor, one mammoth 
room without partitions, and being abundantly supplied with windows 
on its four sides it is particularly well lighted. Four compound con'- 
densing engines furnish a total steam power of 2,500 horse-power. In 
way of dynamos, generators and apparatus generally which enter into 
successful operating, no electric plant is better equipped. New ma- 
chinery and appliances are constantly being added, and one of the late 
additions is a mammoth switchboard of blue Vermont marble. This 
is of recent design, and standing, as it does, in the centre of the great 
room, it makes an attractive as well as useful centrepiece to an interest- 
ing whole. 

More than 150 miles of wii^e are in use in and about the citv; the 
lines are extended as fast as the needs rec^uire, and the capacity of the 
plant is being correspondingly increased. Improvements in methods 
or apparatus are quickty adopted, and, perceiving the trend of the 
times, the company has been gradually preparing to place much of its 
wire under ground, particularly in the business districts. 

The Worcester Electric Light Company is a Worcester enterprise, 
owned and controlled by Worcester men, who, also having other large. 
interests in the place, naturally have the city's welfare at heart. Its 
affairs are ably conducted, its policy is liberal and progressive, the 
service is uniformly good, and in matters of electric lighting and 
power the city is well provided. 

The officers of the company are, and from the start have been : 
Thomas ]\I. Rogers, President: Herbert H. Fairbanks, Treasurer and 
Secretar}-; William H. Coughlin, Superintendent: Thomas M. Rogers, 
Stephen Salisbury, Theodore C. Bates, Loring Coes, A. B. R. Sprague, 
Josiah Pickett, X. S. Liscomb, Alzirus Brown, Directors. 




WILLIAM H. SAWYER. LYMAN A. ELY. 

C. HENRY HUTCHINS. .H. P. DUNCAN. 

GEO. it. MACKINTIRE, 

FRANCIS H. DEWEY. WILLIAM HART. 

O. W. NORCROSS. JAMES LOGAN. 



OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS BOARD OF TRADE. 

LYMAN A. ELY. ARTHUR M, STONE. GEORGE L. BROWNEl 



' J. WHITTALL. 
COMINS, PRES. 
TON COE, Clerk, 
. WARE. 



CHARLES E. SQUIEI 
G. STANLEY MALL. 
ROGEM F. UPHAM. 



WORCESTER BOARD OF TRADE. 



|HE origin of the movement to form the present Board of Trade in 
Worcester was the issuing of a circular calling a meeting of the 
business men of the city at the Bay State House on December 15, 1873, 
and in response a large number gathered at that time. Among those 
present and participating were: Honorable Edward L. Davis (then 
mayor-elect), Lewis Barnard, George T. Rice, A. D. Warren, Major 
O. L. Hatch, vSumner Pratt, L. H. Wells, J. A. Knowlton, E. H. 
Knowlton, T. W. Wellington, C. B. Pratt, G. Henry Whitcomb, 
Jerome Wheelock and Jerome Marble. 

A. D. Warren called the meeting to order; Honorable Edward L. 
Davis was elected chairman, and E. H. Knowlton, secretary. After 
considerable discussion, the meeting finally referred the subject of the 
formation of a board of trade to a committee which was to report 
at a future meeting. This committee comprised Sumner Pratt, A. D. 
Warren, J. J. Russ, Charles H. Fitch and Jerome Wheelock. The 
committee called the next meeting in Wa.shburn Hall January 2, 
1874. A still larger number than before were pre.sent. Honorable 
George M. Rice was chosen to preside. The committee reported a full 
constitution, which was adopted; the preamble of which stated the pur- 
poses of the organization: 

"To promote the business interests of the city of Worcester and 
vicinity, and to secure the advantages which the city offers to trade and 
manufacturers, as well as to cultivate a more intimate and friendly 
acquaintance among the business men of the city." 

It took for a name the Worcester Business Exchange. Stated meet- 
ings were to be held the first Mondays in January, March, May, July, 
September and November. The meeting elected officers as follows: 
President, P. L. Moen; Vice-Presidents, L. J. Knowles, Lewis Barnard 
and George T. Rice; Treasurer, Charles B. Whiting; Directors, Sumner 
Pratt, T. W. Wellington, E. L. Davis, George M. Rice, Jerome Whee- 
lock, A. D. Warren, L. W. Pond, E. T. Marble, Edward Sargent, 
Edward R. Fiske, Charles H. Fitch, J. H. Walker, John D. Chollar, 



4oS 



The Worcester of 1898. 




CELEBRATION OF THE EXTENSION OF PROVIDENCE STREET AND OPENING OFTHE ELECTRIC RAILROAD, 



George L. Newton, John D. Washbnrn, L. M. Richardson, ]\Io\vrv 
Lapham, Addison Palmer, C. M. Smith and Samuel Woodward. The 
organization secured rooms on Pearl street, which were formally opened 
March 3, 1874. The occasion was celebrated by a dinner at the Bay 
State House, at which President Moen presided, and speeches were 
made by Mayor Edward L. Davis; Honorable George B. Loring, then 
president of the State Senate; Honorable George F. Yerry; Secretary 
Little .of the Providence Board of Trade; President Stevens of the Con- 
cord, N. H., Board of Trade; Honorable John D. Washburn; Honorable 
W. W. Rice, and Honorable Henry Chapin. 

In November, 1874, the name of the organization was changed to the 
Worcester Board of Trade. As such it entertained the Board of Trade 
of the city of Portland on the occasion of the opening of the Worcester, 
Nashua & Rochester and the Portland & Rochester railroads. 

vSumner Pratt was president of the board the second year of its exist- 
ence (1875), and L. J. Knowles in 1876 and 1877. 

The board took part in the contest for a division of Worcester county 
in 1875 by .sending delegates to the legislative hearing to protest against 
division. Among various topics discussed at the meetings were: water 



The Worcester of i8g8. 409 

supply, the viaduct bridge, a board of public works, street railway to 
the Union Station, etc. 

The board was incorporated Ma}- 14, 1875. In February, 1877, new 
rooms in Taylor's building were occupied. Joseph H. Walker was 
chosen president in 1878, and continued in that office until the reor- 
ganization of the board in 1891. 

For ten years, from 1880 to 1890, the organization was inactive, with 
only a nominal existence. In the summer of 1891 a number of gentle- 
men interested themselves in the project for the formation of a new 
board of trade, but it was found that the old charter was still in force, 
and it was thought best to revive the old body and unite the new 
movement with it. A paper favoring the undertaking was signed by 
327 names. At a meeting held in the Common Council chamber 
October 15, 1891, these signers were admitted members of the old 
body, and November 5, at Washburn Hall, a new board of directors 
was elected. November 9 the new board organized with C. Henry 
Ilutchins as president, and A. M. Stone and P. W. Moen as vice- 
presidents. Succeeding presidents to the present time have been: A. 
M. Stone, to 1897; Charles G. Reed, 1897-98; Irving E. Comins, 1898. 

The first secretary of the board was E. H. Knowlton, who was 
succeeded in turn by J. Brainerd Hall and Charles A. Chase. On 
the reorganization in 1891 E. T. Raymond was chosen to that place, 
and served one and a half years. L. F. Herrick served one year, and 
the present incumbent has been in office since 1 894. The officers of the 
board in 1898 are: President, Irving E. Comins; Vice-President, J. 
Russel Marble; Treasurer, George W. Mackintire; Secretaiy, Charles 
K. Squier; Auditor, Charles A. Chase. S. Hamilton Coe is clerk of the 
corporation. There is a board of twenty directors. 

The upper story of the Bank block on Foster street was fitted up to 
meet the requirements of the Board of Trade, and was occupied luitil 
the present year, when the quarters were transferred to the story below. 
These rooms have full}^ met the requirements of the article of the 
constitution, which states the object for which the corporation was 
formed, in " the establishment and maintenance of a place for friendh- 
and social meetings of the business men of Worcester"; with the further 
purpo.se "to concentrate their judgment and influence in forwarding such 
movements as shall tend towards the prosperity of the city." 

The working force of the board is divided into twelve important 
committees, besides the Executive Board, and the Committees on 
Membership and Ways and Means, as follows : manufactures, meet- 
ings and receptions, mercantile affairs, transportation and railroads, 
statistics and information, legislation, arbitration, new enterprises, 
municipal affairs, taxation and insurance. 



410 



The Worcester of 1898. 



The Board of Trade can rightly be termed a bureau of information 
in regard to the business interests of the city. It has no funds to invest 
in business, no bonuses to offer, and will not make any efforts to get any 
rebates from the city other than would apply to those already in busi- 
ness. It can, however, offer inducements, which in part are: the very 
best city in New England to do business in, on account of its freight 
and express facilities; its schools, libraries and churches; its abundance 
of skilled labor; and other advantages which serve to keep the people 
satisfied. 

Among the subjects and methods successfully agitated by the board 
in recent years are: extension of express free deliver}-; improved railroad 
train service; municipal street sprinkling; twenty-four hour service in 
the Western Union Telegraph office; electric roads to suburban towns; 
good country roads; bankruptcy bill; sound money; water rates; grade 
crossing; postal laws; currency reform; reciprocity with Canada; Nic- 
araguan canal (by resolution); peace resolutions. 

The board has entertained South American visitors, the Kansas City 
visitors and the National Grange ; and has presented the statue of 
"Augustus" to the Art Museum. 




RESIDENCE OF ELIZABETH T. SAWIN, 40 MAY STREET. 



COMMERCIAL INTERESTS. 



DN the following section, only a few of the older and more prominent 
mercantile establishments are represented — those whose identity, 
reputation and permanency have been interwoven with the business 
life and advance of the city for many years. It was no part of the plan 
to comprehend in this volume anything like a description in detail of 
all the trades-houses, or even a list of them ; but the purpose has been 
to include only those which were distinctivelv representative in their 
several lines, and it is felt that this effort has been fairly successful. 
The names alone of the concerns here noticed are sufficient waiTant for 
their inclusion in the aliove-named classification. 

The Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Company. — This is the oldest as well as 
the largest establishment of its kind in central Massachusetts, it being 
strictly a dry-goods house and not a bazar. The origin of the business was 
in 1842, and its founder, Henry H. Chamberlin, still lives in rugged old age. 
In 1850 Mr. Chamberlin associated with himself two of his former clerks, 
Lewis Barnard and George Sumner, under the firm name of H. H. Cham- 
berlin & Company. In 1852 the firm removed to Mr. Barnard's block (then 
just finished) on the opposite side of the street, and in 1853 the style became 
Chamberlin, Barnard & Company. In this location the establishment has 
remained to the present time, increasing its space as the growth of busi- 
ness demanded, until it now occupies the whole of the five-story block. 
In 1856 Mr. Otis E. Putnam was admitted a member of the firm, and in 
1857 Mr. Chamberlin retired, and the name of Barnard, Sumner & Com- 
pany remained without change until 1892, when the concern was incorporated 
as the Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Company. 

The premises occupied by the company comprise five floors, each 75 .X170 
feet. The building is of modern construction, well ventilated, lighted and 
heated, and is equipped with all the requirements and improvements needed 
in the transaction of the immense business carried on. Nearly 300 persons 
are employed, and many of the clerks and heads of departments have been 
in the service of the company many years. 

The Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Company does an importing and jobbing 
business as well as a retail trade, and handles everything comprehended 




LEWIS BARNARD. 







GEORGE SUMNER. 




OTIS E. PUTNAM. 



The Worcester of il 



415 




BARNARD, SUMNER & PUTNAM COMPANY. 



under the general head of dry and fanc}' goods, from the artistic fabrics, 
embroideries, laces, etc., to the cheapest calicoes, flannels and domestics. 
Its dress-goods department has long been famous in this region, and in 
every other line in variety and quality its stock is unsurpassed by that of 
any other dry-goods store in this country. Ladies' suits, cloaks and 
millinery are well-known specialties. The house has a large mail-order 
business, and gives prompt service and other facilities to buyers equal to 
those of the largest metropolitan establishments. 

In the line of house-furnishing goods, sheetings, napkins, table-linens, car- 
pets and upholstery, curtains, tapestries, etc., this house stands unrivaled, 
and it frequently equips hotels and other public institutions in various parts 
of the country. 

Mr. Sumner died in 1893, and Mr. Barnard, the senior member of the 
firm, in 1897. The officers of the corporation at present are: Otis E. Put- 
nam, President and Treasurer; Edward P. Sumner, Vice-President; A. D. 
Putnam, Assistant Treasurer. 




JOSIAH H. CLARKE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 417 

J. H. Clarke & Company. — The wholesale and retail dry-go(xls business 
now as formeii}' conducted under the firm name of J. H. Clarke & Com- 
pany, w'as established in 1846 by Newcomb, Thayer & Clarke. In 185 1 Mr. 
John B. Clarke became sole proprietor, and two years later the ownership 
was transferred to his brother, Josiah H. Clarke, who was for more than 
forty-four years identified with the business. In 1864 Mr. Thomas B. Eaton 
entered the firm and remained until 1882, and on his retirement Mr. Clarke 
formed a new co-partnership with H. A. Johnson and C. H. Carpenter, 
which continued until January, 1897, when Mr. Clarke withdrew, his 
interest being purchased by Messrs. Johnson, Carpenter and Thomas E. 
Knight, who now constitute the firm. For some years the store was located 
in the Partridge block, opposite the Central Exchange, but for a quarter of 
a century it has occupied its present location at No. 353 ]\Iain street, in the 
American House block. The business has always been conducted within 
the lines of the legitimate dry-goods trade, and a heavy stock and great 
variety of choice foreign and domestic fabrics are carried to meet the 
demands of a large wholesale and retail business. Custom dress and cloak 
making is an important branch, and one in which the firm maintains a high 
reputation. Two floors in the block are occupied for trade and manufact- 
uring purposes, and about thirty clerks and assistants are employed. The 
name of the establishment has always been a synonym for reliability and 
fair dealing. 

The senior member of the firm. Hannibal A. Johnson, son of ^lark and 
Sarah (Simmons) Johnson, was born at Hallowell, Elaine, June 4, 1841. 
He is a son of the Revolution through both his father's and mother's 
ancestry, two great-grandfathers, Samuel Johnson and Ebenezer Mayo, 
serving in the war for independence, a patriotic record fitly supplemented 
by his own brilliant record in the War of the Rebellion. 

At the age of seventeen Mr. juhnson entered a dry-goods store in his 
native city. On the breaking out of the Civil War in 1861, he enlisted on 
the 25th of April, at Augusta, the State Capitol, as a private in Company B, 
Third Maine \'olunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel Oliver O. Howard. 
By slow promotion, as advancement had to be earned in this gallant regi- 
ment, he passed through all the non-commissioned grades, and as first 
sergeant of his company was given the Kearney cross by his division 
commander after two years' service in the field. At Gettysburg, while 
with his regiment in the most advanced position of the Federal troops 
during the second day's battle, he was captured, taken to Richmond, and 
confined at Belle Island for seven weeks. Later he was exchanged, returned 
to his regiment, and was commissioned as lieutenant. At the battle of the 
Wilderness he was with a brother officer recaptured by running into a 
South Carolina brigade while penetrating the Confederate lines for infor- 
mation of their strength and location, then of vital importance to the 
Federal commander; and the Confederate officers have since stated officially 
that they had great difficulty in preventing their men from shooting 
these Federals in their rash attempts to regain the Union lines. Lieu- 
tenant Johnson was taken to ^lacon, (Georgia, and later with other officers 



418 



The na'orcester of 1898. 



4 


m-^-^ "^^ 




1 


iv^^'i^H 


P> 




s 



HANNIBAL A. JOHNSON. 



was placed under fire of our own guns 
at the siege of Charleston, South Caro- 
lina, to prevent if possible the bombard- 
ment of the city. He was then taken 
with others October ist to Columbia, and 
on the 20th of November with three 
other officers effected his escape. After 
forty-nine days of intense suffering and 
hardship, he reached Knoxville on the 
7th of January, 1865. Thirty days after 
capture his regiment, after brilliant 
service in the principal and most bloody 
liattles of the war from first Bull Run 
to Cold Harbor, was mustered out, but 
as soon as his health was restored from 
long confinement in Confederate prisons. 
Lieutenant Johnson again entered the 
service as first lieutenant and adjutant of 
the First Maine Battalion, and on the 5th of April, 1865, again went to the 
front. The war soon ended, but Lieutenant Johnson's command was 
retained in the South for a year, and in April, 1866, he was finally mustered 
out after a continuous service of nearly five years. 

In 1876 Lieutenant Johnson had his sword, captured at the Wilderness 
battle, returned to him by his former captors. 

Lieutenant Johnson returned to the dry-goods business in 1S66, and for 
ten years he was emplo.yed in Lynn, Massachusetts. In 1876 he removed 
to Boston, where he was superintendent with Spalding, Hay & Wales until 
they gave up business. He then became buyer of foreign dress goods for 
Jordan, Marsh & Company, and in 1882 came to AVorcester and formed a 
connection with J. H. Clarke & Company. 

Lieutenant Johnson is a Free Mason; a member of Post 10, ti. A. R. ; 
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts; Society of the Army 
of the Potomac; Third Army Corps Union; and the Worcester Club. He 
married Emma Watts Lombard, daughter of Captain John and Martha 
(Given) Lombard, in 1868, she also being a direct descendant fmrn Rev- 
olutionary ancestry. They have one son, Walter L. Johnson, 

Charles Hudson Carpenter, the second member of the firm, who has been 
connected with the store for thirty-three years, was born in Douglas, ]\Ias- 
sachusetts, son of Siba and Melinda Carpenter, October 4, 1839. He came 
to Worcester when a boy, and received his education in the public schools ot 
the city. He entered into employment with Henry O. Clark, in the fancy 
dry-goods business then in the Dickinson building, but who removed soon 
after to the Clark, nnw the Walker building. Later Martin Slowe suc- 
ceeded to Mr, II. (). Clark's business, and upon his death Mr. H. L, Stowe 
purchased the stock of his uncle Martin's estate, Mr. Carpenter then 
engaging with the J. H. Clarke & Company, and remaining in that situation 
imtil he entered into the firm in 1882. 



The Worcester of tSgS. 



419 




CARPENTER. 



Mr. Carpenter early identified himself 
with the Methodist Church on Park 
street, and was one of the first official 
board of Grace M. E. Church, which was 
organized and for a time worshiped in 
Washburn Hall, with Reverend J. O. 
Peck, D. D., first pastor. Mr. Carpenter 
is now the only present official who has 
served continuously as steward or trustee 
to the present date, and has been honored 
with nearly every office in the church. 
He was one of the original members of 
the Young Men's Christian Association, 
and is a life member of the Worcester 
County ilechanics Association; Monta- 
cute Lodge, A. F. and A. M. ; Worcester 
Lodge of Perfection: and a member of 
Worcester Board of Trade. 
October 10, i860, Mr. Carpenter married Abbie L. Warden, daughter of 
the late John Warden, a well-known merchant tailor and real-estate owner 
of Worcester. Of two daughters, Minniola Louise died at the age of nine- 
teen, and Lillian Gertrude survives. 

Thomas Edward Knight, the juninr member of the firm, was born at 
Knightville, Cape Elizabeth, Elaine, September 22, 1851. His father, 
Thomas E. Knight, was a noted and extensive shipbuilder and a well- 
known Democratic politician in his time. He founded the village which 
bears his name, and died in 1867. His mother, Dorcas R. (Bradford), was 
in line of descent from Governor Bradford of Plymouth Colonv. ^Ir. 
Knight received his education in Portland, and was for several vears 
clerk in Eastman Brothers & Bancroft's 
dry-goods store in that city. In 1S74 he 
entered into the employ of Barnard, 
Sumner & Putnam Company in Worces- 
ter, and remained in that situation- 
twenty-three years, until he formed the 
connection as a member of the firm of 
J. H. Clarke & Companv in Januarv, 
1S97. 

Mr. Knight is an Odd Fellow and a 
Free Mason, being connected with Mon- 
tacute Lodge, Eureka Chapter, Hiram 
Council, and Worcester County Com- 
mandery. Knights Templars. He married 
in February, 1S77, Delia :McKenzie. a 
native of Portland. They have two 
children: Roy E. and Ethel \'era 

-'^"'ght. THOMAS E. KNIGHT. 




420 



The Worcester of 1S98. 



Boston Store. — The tirni of Denholm & McKay Coniijany opened a single 
dry and fancy goods store Nuvember 26, 1S70, in the building since called 
the Walker building, at the corner of Main and Mechanic streets. 

William A. Denholm, the senior partner, had gained experience in this 
trade in Glasgow and New York city. W. C. McKay was born in Kingston, 
Ontario, and had been a salesman for Churchill, Watson & Company, Bos- 
ton, before coming to Worcester. vSoon after opening the store the sales- 
room was found too small, and the basement was fitted up; in 1873 another 
enlargement was necessary — an archway was made to connect the adjacent 




i Mt BUb i UN b I Ut 



Store. This addition relieved for a few years the pressure of the increasing 
business. But in 1882 the quarters were found entirely inadequate. Efforts 
to purchase the building and the lot in the rear in order to increase facilities 
failed on account of the refusal of an abutter to yield his right of way. 
Since then J. H. Walker has succeeded, and the remodeled Walker build- 
ing is the result. 

At that juncture Jonas G. Clark offered to build the block on ^lain street 
now occupied by the firm, and in the summer of 1S82 the block was built, 
and on September 21, 1882, the firm opened up in its new quarters. 
Since then the store has been greatly enlarged, the entire building having 



The Worcester of 1898. 421 

been leased and the firm occupying the greater part of it, a small office 
section being rented. 

The number of clerks has increased from eighteen in 1870 to between 400 
and 500 at the present time. New departments have been added each year 
until there are now forty-three live and well-equipped separate departments 
under one roof. 

Many improvements have been made within the last few years — noticeably: 
The entire front remodeled, making the finest window front in all New 
England; a new electric light plant, which furnishes light and power; a new 
conservatory; new sprinkler system; Luxfer prisms installed in front and 
rear windows; and many others. 

The present officers of the corporation are: A. Swan Brown, President; 
Irving Swan Brown, Vice-President; A. E. Flint, Secretary; R. J. McKay, 
Treasurer; J. E. Macdonald, Assistant Manager. 

The tremendous growth of the business has also in part been due to the 
Syndicate Trading Company, an organization of dry-goods houses that buys 
goods together and in great quantities and at very low rates, and so sell the 
more cheaply than can firms not in such a combination. The syndicate has 
twenty men in its New York office and twenty-four merchandise buyers in 
luirope, who are in constant intercourse with the commercial and manufac- 
turing centres of Europe, and so secure goods at a tremendous advantage. 
The Syndicate Trading Company was established in 1879, and Denholm & 
McKay were charter members. The company is commonly known as the 
"Scotch Syndicate." The Boston Store, as it has always been termed, is 
unquestionably one of the finest and best equipped establishments in all New 
England, and one in which Worcester justly takes pride. 

The John C. Maclnnes Company. — This establishment was founded in the 
year 1873, and at first occupied half of the ground floor of the Gross & 
Strauss building at 462 Main street. From year to year as the business 
expanded, other floors were taken until the entire four stories were brought 
into use, and within the past eighteen months the quarters have been 
further enlarged by the acquisition of the Gorham block on the north and 
the Buttrick and Whipple building on the south, all of the four stories of 
' ach being needed to meet the increasing demands of the trade. 

As a dry-goods department store it is excelled by no other in the country 
in the quality and varietv of its dress goods, silks and other fine fabrics. 
Ladies' suits and millinery are important branches, and imported goods 
are largely dealt in. Reliability and enterprise have from the beginning 
marked the progress of the concern. In 1892 the business, which had to 
that time been carried on in the name of its founder, was incorporated as 
the John C. Maclnnes Company, with a paid-up capital of $100,000, the 
officers of the corporation being John C. Maclnnes, President and Treas- 
urer; Albert A. Spaulding, Vice-President ; Charles A. Homer, Clerk; and 
the above with Alexander J. Moir as Directors. 

John Comrie Maclnnes, the founder, was born July ,^. 1S49, at Auchter- 
nnithill farm on the Drummond Castle estate in Scotland. The Maclnnes 
family occupied this farm at the time of the rebellion of 1745 in favor of 



422 



The Worcester of 1898. 




JOHN C. MACINNES. 



the prett-nck-r, Charles Edward, and in 
consequence of the sj-nipathy of the 
earl of Perth with his cause, the Drum- 
mond Castle estate was confiscated by 
the crown. The Maclnnes family, how- 
ever, continued through several genera- 
tions to lease the farm until the death 
(if Mr. Maclnnes' father in 1X61. 

Jiihn C. Maclnnes served a four years" 
apprenticeship in the dry-goods business 
in Glasgow, and in 1868 came to the 
United vStates to engage with the well- 
known Scotch dry-goods firm of Callen- 
der, McAuslan & Troup at Providence, 
Rhode Island, remaining in that situation 
until his removal to Worcester to estab- 
lish business here. 

Mr. Maclnnes is a director in the Citi- 
zens National Bank and the Worcester & Marlborough Railroad Company, 
and is a member of the Commonwealth Club and the Worcester Board 
of Trade. He resides on Harvard street in the commodious house erected 
by the late A. D. Warren, and also owns a fine farm on Pakachoag hill in 
Auburn, where he has given some attention to the breeding of fine cattle, 
and is president of what is known as the Dutch Belted Cattle Association, 
an organization which comprehends numbers of distinguished breeders of 
this variety in different sections of the country. 

Albert A. Spaulding, vice-president of the corporation, was burn in Ash- 
ford, Connecticut, October 14, 1853. Mr. Spaulding came to Worcester 
September ig, 1S70, and served three years in the dry-goods business with 
Charles B. Eaton, where the State Mu- 
tual building now stands; and also seven 
years with Denholm & McKay at their 
old stand, corner of Main and Mechanic 
streets, there gaining a thorough knowl- 
edge of the dry-goods business. He 
has been connected with Mr. Maclnnes 
since 1881, and has been very active in 
building up the business. He was a 
large share-holder when the corporation 
was formed in 1892, and was elected its 
vice-president. 

Charles A. Homer, one of the directors 
and clerk of the corporation, was born 
in Rutland, Massachusetts, and was well 
known in the dry-goods trade in Worces- 
ter previous to his engagement with 
Mr. Maclnnes in i8,So. Hosiery, under- albert a. spaulding. 




The Worcester of iJ 



423 




CHARLES A. HO^ER. 



wear and gloves are his special depart- 
ments, also the wholesale department is 
under his supervision, and his efforts 
have contributed to the general success 
of the establishment. 

Alexander J. Moir became a director 
of the company in 1892, after being in 
the store for seven years. Mr. Moir was 
born in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1870, 
and came to Worcester in 18S5. His 
particular attention is given to the fancy 
goods department. 

D. H. Eames, the founder of the com- 
pany which bears his name, is a native 
(if Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and first 
came to Worcester to engage in business 
in 1846. On the first day of April, 1851, 
he, in company with William D. Tha}-er, took possession of the then new 
store on Harrington corner, and began the long business career which is 
to-day without a parallel in the commercial life of Worcester. No one 
of 'Mr. Eames' contemporaries during the half century is occupying the 
same location he did in 185 1; very few if any of his associates at that 
time are in active life now. Mr. Eames was for many years the sole pro- 
prietor of the store until the corporation was formed in February, 1897, 
and of which he became president. 

In the early years the custom and the ready-made clothing lines were 
combined, as was usual in stich establishments; but in course of time, lack 
of room compelled the abandonment of the first, and the ready-made cloth- 
ing trade was made the exclusive interest in the business. It was necessary 
at different times to enlarge the store, 
then the basement, and finally to take 
rooms over an adjoining store, so that 
at present the quarters are probably five 
times as large as those which were first 
occupied. The basement room is nearly 
100 feet long, with light at front and 
side, giving a salesroom equal to any in 
the city. The street floor is also used 
as a salesroom, and here is located the 
business office. The children's depart- 
ment on the upper floor, reached by 
elevator, is considered one of the best 
in New England, and is arranged espe- 
cially for the convenience of those who 
bring their children to this store. 

^Ir. Eames was among the earliest of 
the merchants in this country to adopt -lexamder j. moir. 





D. H. EAMES. 



The Worcester of 1898. 425 

the one-price system, and alsu the custom of returning to his patrons 
their money in cases of dissatisfaction. Both of these rules have operated 
beneficially in establishing confidence in the reliability of the concern, and 
they demonstrate the wisdom of its founder. His reputation for trust- 
worthiness is universally acknowledged, and it has built up and retained a 
large patronage. 

From the first the business has constantly increased, and the concern is 
now ranked among the largest clothing-houses in New England. A large 
portion of the goods sold here is manufactured by the company at its 
factory in Boston, and products of the very best material and workmanship 
at lowest prices are thus assured. Mr. Eames has witnessed a great evolu- 
tion in the clothing-trade. Formerly the purchaser of a suit of clothes, if 
he desired complete satisfaction in material and make, had to rely on the 
custom tailor, and pay a price in accordance with the process involved. 
To-day the manufacture of clothing has been reduced to a system. The 
best artists in the country are employed, many of them receiving from 
ten to fifteen thousand dollars annual salary. This makes it possible 
for a man to replenish his wardrobe with ready-to-wear garments of 
better material, better make, and for less money than under the old 
methods. 

Brewer & Company, formerly Bush & Company, wholesale and retail 
druggists, with retail department at 56 Front street, and wholesale depart- 
ment (in same building) at 2 and 4 Commercial street, is the oldest drug 
establishment in Worcester county. It was established in 1S4S by the late 
William Bush, who at first made a specialty of the botanical part of the 
business. Later he took his brother into partnership under the firm name 
of Bush & Company. In 18S8 E. A. Brewer purchased a half interest, and 
in 1891 became sole owner, but the business was carried on under the old 
name. December 8, 1897, the concern moved into the new building, erected 
by them in the same location as the old store, and the firm name was 
changed to Brewer & Company, formerly Bush & Company. During the 
past few years the business has greatly increased; particular attention is 
given to prescriptions, and in the retail department on the street floor 
medicines exclusively are sold without the accompaniment of confectionery, 
soda and fancy goods so common in drug-stores. The wholesale and manu- 
facturing departments and laboratory are models of convenience. The 
former is located in the basement, which is 176 feet long, with a freight- 
track the entire length, the whole well lighted. Here are stored the patent 
medicines and mineral waters. The manufacturing department, on the 
fourth floor, is mostly devoted to the making of tablets and elixirs for 
physicians' use. All the floors of the rear of the building are used by the 
concern, with the offices in the second story, two floors for drugs and 
laboratory, and printing-office on the upper floor, all connected by 
elevators and telephones. In all its appointments it is one of the best 
equipped establishments of its kind in the country. Fifteen years ago 
only three or four were employed in the store; now the services of thirty- 
three are reiiuired. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



427- 



Edwin Avery Brewer, the proprietor of this the largest drug-store in 
central Massachusetts, was born in Wilbraham October 28, 1853. He was- 
the son of Mr. Edwin Bliss Brewer, who belonged to one of the oldest fami- 
lies in that town. 

Mr. Brewer came to Worcester in the spring of 1876, and entered as an 
apprentice the drug-store of David Scott, corner Main and Mechanic 
streets. In 1884 he became a clerk in the store of Bush & Company, and 
grew up with the business. Although :\Ir. Brewer's family is not now 
residing in Wilbraham, it still retains the old home farm of 150 acres, 
which is among the best farms in western Massachusetts. It has been in 
the family for five generations. 

Warden & Phelps. — The growth of 
Worcester has nn doubt been in a con- 
siderable degree accelerated at different 
times by the enterprising and progressive 
spirit of certain citizens, which has been 
manifested in the development of unim- 
proved tracts of land, and the opening 
for settlement (jf districts outl3'ing yet 
adjacent to the city's thickly populated 
region. All increase in a town's surface 
extent and inhabited portion is by accre- 
tion, and this process accompanies the 
advancement of all civilized communities. 
There have been, during the fifty years 
of Worcester's city life, a number of 
undertakings in this line of more or less 
magnitude, not the least notable of which 
was the laying out in 1892 of Columbus 
park, liy which a tract of sixty-eight acres 

north of Webster square was opened to purchasers of homes, eleven new 
streets laid out, and a residential suburb established offering all the attrac- 
tions of a quiet and refined neighborhood, assured by certain restrictions 
in building and preventive conditions against contaminating influences. 
The projectors of this enterprise were William A. Warden and Willis F. 
Phelps, both natives of Worcester. This suburb contains about seventy 
new homes at the present time. 

William A. Warden, son of John and Narcissa (Davis) Warden, was born 
ilarch 2, 1852. He was educated in the public schools of this city. At the 
age of twenty he entered into business for himself as a dealer in fancy goods 
in the city of Lynn, and later in the crockery business, first at 338 and 
afterwards at 546 Main street in this city. This business he sold out in 
1885 to engage in the renting and care of several large estates, and in 
connection with this charge he carried on a general brokerage business in 
buying and selling real estate. In i88g he formed a copartnership with 
Mr. Phelps, and they began to develop suburban property, first on Shrews- 
bury street, near Bloomingdale; later on Eastern avenue, north of Belmont 




WILLIAM A. WARDEN. 



428 



The Worcester of 1898. 




RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM A. WARDEN, 7 CIRCUIT AVENUE, COLUMBUS PARK. 




INTERIOR VIEW WILLIAM A. WARDEN'S RESIDEMCE. 



The Worcester of iSy8. 



429 




WILLIS F. PHELPS. 



Street; Elm hill; fifty-four acres on Au- 
burn line: and finally Columbus park. 
Mr. Warden is a justice uf the peace 
and a notary public. He is connected 
with several Masonic orders, including 
the Knights Templars, and is a member 
of the Knights of Pythias ; was for several 
years secretary of the ^lasonic Relief 
Association. He is a member of Trinity 
M. E. Church, and has been for many 
years one of its official board. He mar- 
ried in April, 1876, Ella M. Durfee of Fall 
River. They have three children living: 
Florence D., Charles Franklin and J. 
Emerson. 

Willis F. Phelps, son of the late Frank- 
lin F. and Sabra W. (Claflin) Phelps, was 
born August iS, 1850. He received his 

education in the public schools of this city. Later was with the Pacific 
Mail Company as purser on its line of steamers plying between San Francisco, 
Yokohama, Shanghai and Hong Kong. On his return to his native city he 
was for a number of years in the foundry business. He passed several years 
in the West, engaged in mining in Colorado and other mining states. 

In 1889 he entered into partnership with Mr. Warden for the purpose of 
developing real estate, and continues in that connection at the present time. 
He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity. In 1874 he married Ella E. 
Hunt iif Brattleboro, and they have f)ne daughter, Ethel. 

The E. T. Smith Company. — The extensive wholesale grocery establish- 
ment cc inducted under the above name has grown out of small beginnings, 
until to-day it ranks second to no other concern in New England. In 1858 
^Ir. E. T. Smith, now the president of the company, began in a small way 
as a retail grocer in a little store ten feet square at the corner of Shrews- 
bury and Mulberry streets. Gradually increasing his business, and entering 
into partnership with his brother Jesse, the firm dealt in lime and cement 
in addition to groceries, until, in 1868, the senior brother entered into the- 
jobbing line, and in 1870 relinquished the retail part to Jesse Smith, and 
taking as a partner the late Charles A. Bigelow, engaged fn>m that time 
solely in the wholesale trade. 

On the death of Mr. Bigelow in 1885, a new partnership was formed with 
Charles F. Bigelow, a son of the former partner; Charles H. Robinsnn; 
Charles A. King; and Frank A. Smith, son of the founder. Mr. Robinson 
withdrew in 1895, ^"^1 the following year the E. T. Smith Company was. 
incorporated, with E. T. Smith as president and C. F. Bigelow, treasurer, 
and a capital of $100,000. Mr. Frank A. Smith is the buyer for the concern. 
In 1893 the firm relinquished the store at Shrewsbury and Mulberry streets 
and occupied the present building erected by them at the corner of Summer 
and Bridge streets, the impelling motive being direct C(immunicati<in with 



430 



The Worcester of 1898. 



the tracks of the Fitchburg railroad, by which goods can be loaded and 
unloaded between the cars and their doors, saving many dollars annually to 
the company. The new building is three stories in height, and has 10,000 
square feet of room on each floor. The basement is used for storage for 
the heavier goods. The street floor contains the offices and salesrooms, with 
departments for tea-testing, tobacco and cigars, extracts, etc. The second 
floor is used as a packing-room and storage for wooden-ware. On the third 
floor are the apparatus for roasting coffee and the spice-mills, one of the 
best plants in the country. The floor, walls and ceiling of this room are 




E. T. SMITH COMPANY, 203 SUMMER STREET. 

absolutely fireproof. The company deals largely in all the staples — teas, 
coffees and spices — and has established a reputation for reliability and fair 
dealing. In the course of its existence it has passed through all the various 
changes in methods of doing business and handling goods, from the time 
when most of the staples were sold in bulk to the present era of packages 
and canned articles, and has kept ])ace with all the improvements and inno- 
vations of the times. Probably twice the cpiantity of goods has to be 
handled to-day to render the same profit as was necessary fifteen years 
ago, and other changes common to this and other kinds of business have 
required an adjustment to new conditions which has been successtully 
accomplished by the managers of this company. 

Guy Furniture Company This company was incorporated in 1897 under 

the State laws of Massachusetts. Its capital is $75,000, and its officers 



The Worcester of li 



431 



are W. P. Guy, President ; E. G. Guy, \'ice-President ; and B. E. Guy, 
Secretary and Treasurer. 

This company has houses in Bmckton and Springfield as well as in this 
city. They are the outgrowth of a furniture business started in Brockton 
about twenty years ago, and the Brockton house is still the largest one of 
its line in that city. 

The Worcester business was started in a small way in 1S87, occupying 
only its floor salesroom, and an idea of the business growth can be formed 
from the fact that the company's salesrooms now comprise seventeen, 
including basement — three entire blocks — besides extensive stock-rooms 
in rear buildings. 

The Springfield house was started later, and is now one of the largest 
in that city, and occupies five floors on the Main street. 

The Worcester house is the largest of the three and is the headquarters, 
the central house of the company, and is easily among the leading house- 
furnishing establishments of the State. It is located on Main street, Nos. 
517 to 527. This firm carries a large stock of furniture, stoves, carpets, 
crockery, glass-ware, and all kinds of house furnishings, which they sell 
largely on the installment plan. 

The Messrs. Guy are Massachusetts men. The president of the company, 
W. P. Guy, lives in Springfield, while the vice-president and treasurer 
reside in Worcester. 

The E. G. Higgins Company stands at the head of all dealers in its line, 
not onl}^ in the city of Worcester, but it is the largest wholesale and retail 
wall-paper house in New England. The company's business is located at 
274-278 Main street, occupying nearly the whole of that large building, the 




RESIDENCE OF MRS. F. B. KNOWLES, 842 MAIN STREET. 




"AUH'JHA," CMAhlLbb h. tjltVLlNb' AKAHTivltiNT BLO^-K, 
652-6CO MAIN STREET. 



The Worcester of li 



433 



tliinr space measuring alxiut half an acre. It also has a branch huuse in 
IJoston. 

The business was started in a small way by E. G. & F. W. Higgins in 
1S69, and by honest dealing a permanent, reliable and ever-increasing trade 
was built up. For nearly thirty years this firm has enjoyed the confidence 
of the trading community. F. W. Higgins retired from the firm in 1876, 
and for four years Mr. E. G. Higgins continued the business. In 1880 
I-"rancis E. Higgins purchased a half interest in the business, and a jobbing 
department was added. The name was changed to E. G. Higgins & Company. 

In 1884 ]Mr. F. E. Higgins made an extensive trip abroad for the purpose 
of studying the development of the art of interior decorating, and upon his 
return he extended this feature of their business. 

The E. G. Higgins Company was in- 
corporated in February, 1893, Mr. E. G. 
Higgins being elected president, and F. 
E. Higgins was chosen clerk and treas- 
urer; he also became the manager of 
the business, and by his energy, push 
and thorough system the trade has more 
than trebled in the past six years. This 
company is now the leading firm of its 
kind in the New England states, and the 
large assortment and heavy stock car- 
ried by them make their store the most 
desirable place to purchase paper-hang- 
ings and interior dedorations. They 
have four salesmen on the road, and 
their wholesale trade extends to all parts 
of New England, eastern New York, 
Canada and the provinces. They im- 
port goods direct from England, France, 
(iermany and Japan, besides handling- 
all the best American papers. 

Francis Elon Higgins, whose portrait 
accompanies this sketch, is the oldest son of Elon G. and Lucy Maria Higgins. 
He was born in Worcester October 15, 185 1, and educated in the public 
schools of his native city. After leaving school he was employed in the 
office of the Ames Plow Company until 1S69, when he entered his father's 
store, and, as stated above, he has grown up with the business. 

Mr. Higgins has done some work in oil and water-color painting, and was 
a charter member and for seven years the treasurer of the Art Students' 
Club. He is a member of the Commonwealth Club, Builders' Exchange 
and the Worcester Board of Trade. He is also a member of Quinsigamond 
Lodge, F. & A. M. 

On the 12th of October, 1885, he was married to ^liss Sarah C. Heald, 
and they have three children: Etha Hazel, Gladys and Francis Raymond. 
Their pleasant home is at 51 William street. 




434 



The Worcester of if 



Mercantile Agencies. — The priniar_v function of mercantile agencies is to 
aft'ord means for ascertaining the credit of persons engaged in business; but 
the purpose and effect are more comprehensive than the compilation and 
distribution to subscribers of a "black list." These agencies exert an 
important influence in the promotion of trade, as a sj'stematic investiga- 
tion of the responsibility of those having commercial relations and the 
reports based upon it afford important data indicating the trend of 
business in general. These reports are consulted throughout the country, 
and are regularly cjuoted by the press. The printed volumes containing the 
commercial ratings are a great individual convenience and saving, as bv 




THE "EVANS" APARTMENT BLOCK. 

them a merchant or manufacturer can at once ascertain the financial stand- 
ing of anyone in trade in any part of the country, without the delay or 
expense incident to a personal investigation by correspondence or otherwise. 
Worcester is well provided in this respect. The agency of Edward Russell, 
now absorbed by the R. G. Dun Company, has had an office in this city 
for several years. The Bradstreet Company, which formerly included 
Worcester in its Boston district, now has an office in Worcester. This 
company, by a uniform system, covers all parts of the United vStates, and 
maintains branches in Great Britain, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, 
Austria and Australia. 

The " Evans." — The writer has long believed that the usual method of con- 
structing buildings is defective, and that one of the worst enemies to their 



The Worcester of 1898. 435 

jicrnianency, "shrinkage," could in a great measure be prevented. The 
matter seemed so important that on the large buildings erected by him, he 
has tried to reduce this difficulty to a minimum. Until the erection of the 
••Evans," his plans have met with but partial success. In the case of the 
"Evans" they were successful. His architects, Messrs. Barker & Nourse, 
gave their consent that while the drawing of the plans and writing of the 
specifications were in progress, he might be present and supervise the whole 
matter, which he did. Again be was favored in letting the contract to 
build the block to a builder, Mr. George Hubbard, whose reputation for 
following plans and specifications and for doing good work was all the 
writer could desire. Mr. Hubbard entered upon his work fully understand- 
ing what was expected of him, as did all his sub-contractors, and at the 
completion the writer had the long-desired building; and now after eight 
winters of steam heat we have a structure that shows no greater sign of 
shrinkage, such as cracks in wall and ceiling, settling of floors, doors 
refusing to work properly, etc., etc., than at the time of completion. To 
accomplish this result we start with a good foundation for walls and parti- 
lions, and then as we go up, the floor joist and partition above rest on the 
partition studding below, and so on up to and including the roof, so that 
every floor joist might be removed, and our building, including partitions 
and roof, remains. The skrinkage is confined to its own flooring and not 
added to by each additional floor. 

With the usual and common practice of taking the timber full of water 
from the saw-mill, and as rapidly as may be constructing the building to 
the roof, setting the partition studding upon the floors, thus adding the 
shrinkage of floor after floor to the structure, it is not remarkable that 
cracks are found in the walls, increasing in size as we near the top; uneven 
floors; doors continually out of order; plumbing, gas piping and electric 
reduced to disorder, calling for almost constant repairs. The "Evans" is 
not one of these. This of which I have written is not seen in the finished 
building; the result of this careful preparation can be seen in the stability 
of the finished structure. 

The article published in the Worccstc'r Coiumcycial and Itoard of Trade 
Ihtllclin, July, 1892, "Beautiful Homes of Worcester," will apply to the 
'• Evans" to-day just as truly as when written, and we will close by copying 
a portion of that article: 

"One of the finest apartment houses in this city is that of H. H. Hough- 
ton, on the corner of Main and Hammond streets, lately completed. The 
'Evans' is a structure of imposing appearance, constructed of brick with 
brownstone trimmings, and embodies several improvements in convenience 
and sanitary conditions. The arrangements for disposing of the dust and 
ashes, and the ventilating facilities of the building have received special 
attention, and the results will undoubtedly be appreciated by all concerned. 

"The 'Evans' has a frontage of 69 feet on Main street and 70 feet on 
Hammond street, with bay windows on both fronts, and is so situated that 
no buildings in the immediate vicinity could obstruct the excellent view 
from its windows. The main entrance on Main street is reached by a flight 



The Worcester of 1898. 437 

of granite steps, flanked by nickel rails, and the doorway is supplied with 
all the modern conveniences in the way of electric bells and speaking-tubes. 
The public hall is finished in oak, and contains, besides a spacious stairway, 
one of the Hutchins Machine Company's new and improved passenger 
elevators, which runs to the fourth floor. The private halls, parlors and 
sitting-rooms are finished in red birch, while the sleeping-rooms are finished 
in ash. 

•"The tuii lower tenements have a basement, which is entered fmni Main 
street on the street level, which contains the dining-room and kitchen, with 
all the modern conveniences in set-tubs, bowls, etc. Upstairs are located 
the parlors, sitting-rooms, music-rooms and sleeping-rooms of the lower 
tenements. Each tenement contains ten rooms, with the closets, etc., 
indispensable to good housekeeping. 

"The remaining three floors are occupied by six tenements of eight rooms 
each, all of them as complete in detail as the two lower ones, and each sup- 
plied with a separate piazza. The ash-chutes are on an improved plan, 
thereby avoiding the dust attendant upon the use of the old methods. The 
bath-rooms are equipped with a cold-air ventilator in the floor, a constant 
current of air being kept up by a hot-air flue, which makes the supply of 
fresh, pure air all that could be desired. 

"The building is heated bj' steam, and fitted up with wires for electric 
lighting as well as with gas piping, while the system of speaking-tubes, 
electric bells, dumb-waiters, etc., makes communication easy. 

"The 'Evans' was named after Charles Evans Houghton, a son of Mr. 
H. H. Houghton, who died at the age of eleven years." 



WILLOW PARK. 

The following reference to an interesting locality, the natural features of 
which are now being obliterated by the march of improvement, is extracted 
from a description written several years since : 

Willow Park, connected with the South Main street residence of Thomas 
H. Dodge, Esq., is an attractive place. The merry sound of the water fall- 
ing from the fountain into the basin below ever greets the eye and ear of 
the passerby from night to morning of each day and night of the year. At 
the south end of the basin and park stands the "ancient willow," whose 
roots have derived life and nourishment from the crystal waters of the 
natural spring from which the fountain is supplied and the basin kept 
full. 

The late Professor Thompson believed the water came from great and un- 
known depths, rising through a crevice formed by volcanic action in Oread's 
rocky base, and from which place the water is now conducted in a four-inch 
pipe to the fountain in Willow Park, an engraving of which we give, together 
with a very touching and suggestive poem, "To the Ancient Willow," by 
Harriet Prescott Spofford, whose writings the people of the United States 
have delighted to peruse, and Worcester people will read with enhanced 



438 



The Worcester of iJ 



interest her feeling tribute to one of the marked objects of nature in the 
Heart of the good old Commonwealth of ^Massachusetts. 



To THE Ancient Willow. 

IIakkiet Tkescott Spofford. 



Streams from earth's most secret place, 
Poured at Oread's rocky base, 
Filled thee with the vital force 
Of the planet's deathless course 
Ages gone, till thou hadst grown 
And made the upper skies thine own. 
And still thy tender vernal shoots 
Take the thrill those eager roots 
Feel, deep hidden from the sun. 
Where those crystal sluices run. 

Who thy mystic rede shall spell, 

Who thy generations tell ? 

Haply in the open glade 

The lover of some dusky maid 

Cast thee once, a supple wand. 

O'er thee since what daj'S have dawned, 

What innumerable hours 

White with storm and gray with showers. 

Mornings bursting rosy bars. 

Purple evenings sown with stars! 

Long ago, from ambush sprung. 
Through thy depths the war-whoop rung ! 
Awful lights about thee blazed 
When the braves their war-song raised ! 
Round thee curled what clouds of fleece 
When they smoked their pipe of peace ! 
Cobwebs in the vanished gleam. 
Less than shadows of a dream. 
Even their dust is blown away, — 
Thou and thy green branches stay! 



Thou hadst known how many springs 
Of building birds and darting wings 
When thy great tops caught the fires 
Of freedom's sunrise, and our sires 
For a cause that was the Lord's 
Turned their sickles into swords! 
Thou hast seen those conquering men 
Beat their swords to plowshares then. 
And the hamlet in its health 
Grow a mighty commonwealth ! 

Rent was all thy ancient mail, 

Familiar of the winter gale. 

That night the bell-towers' wild alarms 

Called a nation into arms. 

And trembling to the squadrons' tread 

Earth made readj' for her dead. 

Torn and twisted, gnarled, yet green, 

Living ruin, thou hast seen 

Empire from sea to sea complete 

And history pausing at thy feet. 

Alas, alas, we come and go. 

And still thy yellow tassels blow, 

Still shall thy quickening reddening sprays 

Be first to promise genial days 

Of April, with her bright face wet. 

And the remembered violet. 

Still shalt thou toss thee grey and hoar 

When ruffling winds across thee soar 

In thy undying life, while we 

Fall like thv leaves, old Willow Tree ! 



DEVELOPMENT OF MANUFACTURING. 

Bv rill'; II<i\()K.\nLE Charlks G. Wasuhlkx.* 

nHE great development of Worcester as a manufacturing community 
has taken place within the past seventy years, for prior to 1830 
manufactures were of the most primitive kind; this was also true of the 
country at large. 

The attitude of England before the Revolution towards any attempt 
to manufacture by the colonists was well expressed in a remark made 
by the Earl of Chatham that the "colonists had no right to manu- 
facture so much as a single horseshoe nail." 

This policy was carried into effect by oppressive legislation, which 
has been said by an eminent historian to have been the real cause of 
the Revolution rather than the irritating measures which followed Mr. 
(irenville's plan of taxation. vSome idea of the absolute lack of manu- 
facturing industries in this country, prior to the Revolution, is sug- 
gested by the fact that in 1 767 it was recommended that the people 
engage in the making of potash, for the purpose of securing an article 
of export with which to pay for imports from Great Britain. Works 
for the manufacture of potash were established as early as 1760 in 
different parts of Worcester, and Pleasant street was once known as 
Potash hill. 

The manufacture of paper to meet local wants was entered upon at 
an early day. At a convention of delegates from towns in Worcester 
county held Alay 3, 1775, it was voted that the erection of a paper-mill 
in the county would be of great public advantage. 

The manufacture of paper was carried on in .Sutton in 1778, and 
Isaiah Thomas, who conducted a large btisiness as printer and publisher 
in Boston and Worcester, and who published the S/>j', began the manu- 
facture of paper in 1793 at the water privilege in Quinsigamond Village. 
Rut up to the time of the Revolution almost everything, excepting food 
and the ruder kinds of cloth, was imported, principally from England. 

The enforced cessation of commercial intercourse with England by 
reason of the war stimulated such manufacturing interests as were in 
existence, and led to the establishment of new ones. 



^See sketch in Biographical Department. 



/ 








CnARLtS G. VVAbHdURN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 441 

But upon the declaration of peace in 1783, the importation of foreign 
:goods bade fair to destroy the business of our domestic manufactures, 
and the want of a strong national government with power to establish 
and enforce a uniform tariff system was keenly felt. 

By no class of people was the prospect of a constitution more warmly 
welcomed than by the manufacturers, mechanics and trades people, and 
the Federal Constitution was adopted in Massachusetts largely through 
their influence. '^ 

A decided impulse was given to manufacturing by the embargo 
declared in 1 807, by the complications then existing between this coun- 
try and France and England, and by the War of 18 12, which led to an 
almost complete stoppage of importations. 

I have said enough to indicate the general conditions prevailing and 
the simple mechanical industries of Worcester prior to 1820, which 
were only sufficient to supply the wants of a small community. ' Up to 
this time the industries of Worcester were very much the same as those 
of every New England town. 

Indeed, it was not until 1820 that Worcester became the largest of 
the towns in the county. The census of xyG^-'-j^ gave Worcester the 
fifth place in population, following Sutton, Lancaster, Mendon and 
Hrookfield. In 1790, 1800 and 18 10 Worcester stood third, Brookfield 
and Sutton preceding. 

In 1820 Worcester took first place, and from that time until the 
present has had a constantly increasing percentage of the population 
of the county. 

The history of the mechanical industries of Worcester from 1820 
until 1898 is the history of the growth of a village of 3,000 to a city of 
upwards of 100,000, an increase from the production of the food and 
clothing necessary for her own inhabitants to an annual product of 
upwards of $40,000,000 scattered through every state in the Union, 
and to be found in almost every civilized country on the face of the 
globe. 

It is a matter of surprise that so large a community could develop 
where the water-power is so limited. Our own people, even, thought 
that this would be fatal to our growth. 

It is related that the late Judge Merrick once said to Samuel Slater 
that Worcester never could become a manufacturing town because of 
the lack of water-power, and that Mr. Slater replied: "Mr. Merrick, you 
may live to see the time when Worcester will need all the water of Mill 
brook to provide the steam for her steam engines." As Judge Merrick 
lived until 1867, this prophecy was pretty literally fulfilled. 

It is dilficult to realize that W. A. Wheeler, who is credited with 
having had the first steam-engine in the State west of Boston, should 



442 The Worcester of 1898. 

have discarded it in 1825 and used horse-power until 1840, when he put 
in another engine. The late W. T. Merrifield at the same time put in 
an engine of from four to six horse power. These were probably the 
first efficient steam-engines in town. 

The rapid growth of Worcester as a manufacturing city is most 
largely due to the following causes: 

1. The introduction of steam-power. 

2. The building of railroads. 

3. The facilities afforded to men with small means to begin business. 

4. The character of the people. 

The necessity for means of communication with the seaboard was 
recognized by our enterprising people at a very early day. The plan of 
making a navigable waterway to both Boston and Providence was sug- 
gested as early as 1796. Work was begun upon the Blackstone canal 
in 1822, and was completed in 1828, and on October 7th of that year 
the first canal boat, the "Lady Carrmgton," arrived from Providence 
and moored in the basin on Central street. 

The canal was used for twenty years, the last toll having been 
collected in November, 1848. 

The Boston & Worcester railroad was completed and the first train 
run to Worcester July 6, 1835, and the road was extended to Springfield 
in 1839. 

The Norwich & Worcester railroad was first operated between 
Worcester and New London March 9, 1840. 

The Providence & Worcester railroad began operations October, 
1847; the Worcester & Nashua railroad December 18, 1S48; and the 
Boston, Barre & Gardner September 4, 1871. 

There are now at least five outlets and thirteen routes to the West. 
Before the opening of the canal and the building of the railroads, the 
only communication between Worcester and other places was by wagon 
or stage. Prior to 181 3 there was no stage or mail route between 
Worcester and Providence, and a stage route begun in 1814 was later 
abandoned, as it did not pay, but was resumed in 1823. In 1827 there 
were eighteen different lines of stages running from Worcester, and 
the passengers averaged 100 daily. 

Without facilities for shipping her products at small cost to distant 
points, Worcester manufactures could never have grown beyond the 
needs of the rural population. In 18 12 it cost $10 per ton per 100 
miles to move freight. To-day a hundred pounds of freight can be 
carried from Worcester to Chicago for no more than it costs to send a 
trunk across the street. 

The third reason which I have given for the rapid growth of Worces- 
ter as a manufacturing citv, is the facilities which have been afforded 



The Worcester of 1898. 



443 



to mechanics to begin business in a small way without incurring the 
expense incident upon the erection and equipment of a shop, and there 
are few manufacturing enterprises in Worcester that have not at one 
time or another occupied room in buildings erected for rent with power 
to a number of tenants. The first of these buildings, the old Court 
Mills, erected some time prior to 1832 and located at Lincoln square, 
was occupied at one time or another by the Messrs. Goes, manufacturers 
of wrenches; Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, makers of agricultural imple- 
ments; Thomas E. Daniels, maker of planing machines; Samuel Flagg, 
pioneer maker of machinists' tools in Worcester. 




RESIDENCE OF GEORGE H. BURTIS, 4 GERMAIN STREET. 



The ]\Ierrifield buildings, most widely known of all, were built in 
1835, and rebuilt after the fire of 1854. In 1859 they were occupied by 
over fifty firms employing from two to eighty hands each. A building 
for the same purpose was erected by Doctor Heywood on Central street 
about 1846. The stone shop at the Junction lately occupied by the 
Knowles Loom Works was erected in 1851, and first and last has been 
occupied by a large number of tenants. 

An enumeration of the causes which have contributed to the growth 
and prosperity of Worcester would not be complete without some 
reference to the character of the people who have been prominent in 
her affairs. Worcester is essentially a manufacturing city, and it is to 
her successful mechanics that her prosperity has been most largely due. 



444 The Worcester of 1898. 

The manufacturing interests of Worcester, almost without exception, 
began in a small way, and through careful and intelligent management 
have, some of them, become known the world over. 

There was very early manifested on the part of our mechanics a 
disposition to secure opportunities to educate themselves. About 18 19 
a number of young mechanics who had been active in reforming the 
schools and establishing a lyceum and temperance society, made an 
attempt to form a mechanics' association. This failed. But in 1841 a 
public meeting was held to consider the matter, which resulted in the 
formation of a successful association, and in the completion in 1857 of 
Mechanics Hall, so conspicuous in the history of the city. 

The object of the association was "the moral, intellectual and social 
improvement of its members, the perfection of the mechanic arts, and 
the pecuniary assistance of the needy." 

Steps were taken to establish a library and an annual course of 
lectures. The first lecture was delivered by Elihu Burritt, then a 
resident of Worcester, and was upon the importance of educating 
the mechanics and workingmen of the countr3^ From that time to 
the present the Mechanics Association has provided a course of lectures 
■every winter, besides instruction in drawing, for the benefit of ambitious 
young mechanics. 

Another object in forming the association was the holding of an 
annual fair for the exhibition of the mechanical products of the city. 
The first fair was held fifty 3'ears ago, in September, 1848, and was very 
^successful. The reports of the judges were printed and circulated, 
■creating a wide knowledge of and consequently large demand for the 
products of Worcester mechanics. 

Another illustration of the public spirit of the mechanics of Worcester 
is found in the fact that among the contributors to the fund to provide a 
suitable location for the Polytechnic Institute were workmen in twenty 
•of the then largest shops and factories. 

To know all the causes contributing to the prosperity of Worcester, 
we must look without as well as within. Were there no markets or 
means for reaching them, it would be useless to establish factories. The 
necessary market for our products has been furnished in an enormous 
territory and a rapidly growing population ; means for reaching the market 
have been supplied in ample railroad facilities, and the national govern- 
ment has, by tariff legislation, promoted the growth of our industries. 

The Louisiana purchase of 1803 more than doubled the territory of 
the United States. The Mexican cessions of i848-'53 added two-thirds 
as much territory as we originally possessed. 

Threading this vast area in every direction are 184,428 miles of rail- 
road and 243,441 miles of track, to say nothing of the commerce of the 



The Worcester of 1898. 445_ 

(jreat Lakes and of our larger rivers. Telegraph and telephone lines 
form an aerial network, which covers the country like a web. 

A journey to the equator can be taken to-day in less time and with 
less inconvenience than a journey from Boston to Washington when 
John Adams was president. 

Correspondence can be conducted to-day b}- wire with vSan F"rancisco 
with a smaller expenditure of time than by letter with Boston seventv 
years ago. 

The merchandise transported by rail in the United States is double 
that of all other nations of the earth combined, and freight charges in 
1890 were less than ninety-three cents per ton per mile, one-half the 
customary charge in Europe, against $10 per ton per mile in 18 12. 

Another of our beneficent institutions, shared in common with all the 
people of the United States, but which has in very large measure stimu- 
lated our mechanics, is our national patent system, under which the 
individual, in return for the benefit bestowed upon the communit}-, can 
secure to himself for a limited period the exclusive right to his inven- 
tions. 

A large number of patents have been issued to Worcester mechanics, 
and this incentive to discover and adapt to practical uses new methods 
and new mechanisms has been very potent in keeping our factories at 
the very highest point of efficiency. 

I have been asked to write an introduction to the description in 
detail, which will follow, of the individual manufacturing industries of 
Worcester, and this confines me to a general statement of the condi- 
tions iinder which Woi'cester has grown and prospered, but will per- 
haps permit of brief mention of the humble manner in which some of 
our more conspicuous industries had their beginning. 

The wire business was commenced in 1831 by Ichabod Washburn 
and Benjamin Goddard on a small water privilege in Northville, where 
they made card wire and wire for screws. The business was in 1835 
removed to its present location on Grove street, and since then has 
grown to its present large proportions, contributing to the support 
directly and indirectly of perhaps one-sixth of the population of Worces- 
ter, and known the world over. All this has been done with local 
capital, thrift and enterprise. An interesting illustration of what large 
results may follow from apparentlv accidental circumstances, is found 
in the following incident: 

Sometime during the year 1831, Mr. Washburn, Mr. Goddard and 
General Nathan Heard made an arrangement with three brothers 
named Read, who were manufacturing screws in Providence under a 
patent they owned, to move their business to Worcester. This they 
did, bringing the machinerv up from Providence on a canal boat, the 



^46 The Worcester of 1898. 

journey occupying three days. The business was located in the North- 
ville factory of Washburn & (ioddard, where the wire was made. 
Subsequently, in 1836 or 1837, the screw business was moved back to 
Providence, and became the nucleus of the Eagle, now the American 
Screw Company. Had this business been kept here, it would have 
been of the greatest value to the city. 

The manufactttre of paper machinery, now so important an industry, 
-came about in the following manner: 

Isaac Goddard was apprenticed to Elijah Burbank at (Juinsigamond 
to learn paper-making. In 1836 he came to Worcester, and in company 
with Mr. Howe began to make paper-machinery at the old red mills on 
Green street. They subsequently moved to the factory on Union street, 
where the business was conducted under the name of Goddard, Rice & 
•Company, and their successors are now widely known as the Rice, 
Barton & Fales Machine Company. Doctor R. L. Hawes of Worcester 
was at one time the New York agent for Goddard & Rice, and there 
saw some hand-made envelopes. Doctor Hawes thought that he could 
make envelopes by machinery, and returning to Worcester built an 
envelope-machine in the shop of Goddard & Rice, on which a patent 
was issued in 1853, the third United States patent on a machine for 
making envelopes. This led to the development in this city of the 
great envelope industry which has been so large a factor in our 
prosperity. 

In 1840 the late Samuel Davis happened to meet in Boston William 
•Crompton, father of the late George Crompton. Mr. Crompton was 
looking for someone to build his loom, and Mr. Davis recommended 
Phelps & Bickford of Worcester, who subsequently arranged to manu- 
facture the loom on a royalty. Worcester looms are now known the 
world over. 

One would expect to find in close proximity the manufacture of card- 
clothing and card-wire. The making of card-clothing was, from early 
times, the chief industry in the neighboring town of Leicester, whence 
the Earles moved to Worcester in 1843, and continued the business 
here. 

The existence of a foundry in Worcester as early as 1825 led Samuel 
Flagg to move his machine shop from West Boylston to Worcester in 
1839 to save cartage on his castings. He located in Court Mills as 
lessee of Samuel Davis, and made hand and engine lathes. 

As an indication of the insufficient equipment of a machine-shop in 
those days, it may be stated that Mr. Flagg had no planer when he 
■commenced business, but (Jid that work by hand-chipping and fiUng. 
This was the beginning of the manufacture here of machinists' tools, 
for which Worcester has been well and widely known. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



447 



The brothers Goes, both born in Worcester, invented and patented a 
wrench about 1840, which was the basis of their extensive manufactur- 
ing interests at New Worcester. 

The manufacture of the Daniels planer in Court Mills by Thomas 
Daniels, the inventor, in 1839, has led to the manufacture here of wood- 
working machinery. 

Ethan Allen was attracted to Worcester in 1847, and began the 
manufacture of firearms, which subsequently became an important busi- 
ness, and here invented the first set of machinery ever devised for 
making metallic cartridges. 

In 1857 the firm of S. C. & S. Winslow ventured to make twenty-five 
pairs of skates in their machine shop in Merrifield building. This was 
the beginning of the Samuel Winslow Skate Manufacturing Company. 

The manufacture of Brussels carpets was suggested by the invention 
here in 1870 of a loom for weaving them. 

These brief references are sufficient to indicate how natural and 
healthy has been the growth of the manufacturing industries of 
Worcester. 

It is difficult to realize that within so short a time, and largely through 
the enterprise and sterling character of her own citizens, such great 
results have been accomplished. Honest, industrious, shrewd, public- 
.spirited and benevolent have been the men who have made Worcester 
what she is. Their works will live long after them, and their example 
will lend inspiration to succeeding generations. 




RESIDENCE OF A. H. HAMMOND, 9 CLAREMONT STREET. 




ALBERT CURTIS. 



INDUSTRIES OF WORCESTER. 



JlHE following tables, furnished by Honorable Ht-race G. Wadlin, 
U| chief of the Bureau of .Statistics of Labor, show the growth and 
changes in manufacturing in Worcester by decades since 1837. The 
information is transcribed directly from the census returns, but in the 
early years as compared with the later is, of course, less complete- 
nevertheless, it is all that is available. The early censuses were not 
taken with the care which now characterizes such work. For that 
reason comparisons indicating growth by decades are somewhat mis- 
leading. 

Industries of Worcester 



1837. 



Classification of Goods 
Made. 



Bonnets, straw, 

Bouts and shoes, 

Chairs and cabinet work 

Coaches and chaises, 

Cotton goods. 

Cutlery, . 

Hats, 

Hats, palm-leaf, 

Iron castings. 

Lead pipe, 

Machinery, paper. 

Machinery, woolen 

Paper, 

Plows, 

Tin-ware, 

Wire, 

Woolen goods, 



Totals, 



g«6 



3 'a,?! 
Ed a 



tj,2S,000 

45,5°° 
2,000 



12,000 

5,000 

5,000 

75,000 

23,000 



25,000 
99>Soo 






ijfi,ooo 

59,020 

18,300 
60,000 

62,182 

3,5°° 
33,200 

1,000 
30,000 
1 1, 000 
10,000 
240,000 
54,815 

9,000 

18,300 

45,000 

360,352 



3(1, g 



40 
81 

6 



5 

10 

160 

22 

7 

14 

35 

225 



pi, 016, 669 800 



450 



The Worcester of 1898. 
Industries of Worcester — 1845. 



Classification or Goods 
Made. 


III 


Bu a 


0) 
cJ 
3 
> 


a feo- 

3(1. E 






< ^ 


"^ 


^ a 




"o 









Artisans' tools, 


_ 





|!l2,000 


8 


Blind fastenings, etc., . 


— 


$400 


2,400 


3 


Brass foundry work. 


I 


400 


2,000 


3 


Brick, 


— 


— 


28,000 


40 


Boots and shoes, 


— 


— 


288,500 


685 


Boxes, fancy, .... 


— 


500 


2,50° 


5 


Card-presses, hand. 


— 


2,000 


4,000 


4 


Card-presses, machine, . 


— 


5,000 


18,000 


4 


Cards, . . . . . 


2 


7,000 


22,000 


8 


Carpetings, . . . . 


1 


7,000 


26,000 


1 1 


Chairs and cabinet work, 


3 


'5. 500 


27,500 


28 


Cordage, . . . . 


I 


1,500 


4,000 


4 


Cotton goods. 


3 


53i2°° 


45.184 


97 


Doors, sashes and blinds. 




8,500 


16,500 


-3 


Firewood, . . . . 


— 


— 


9,254 


8 


Hats and bonnets, straw. 


— 


— 


10,000 


TO 


Hats and caps. 


5 


1 1,600 


24,752 


32 


Hollow-ware and castings. 


3 


47,5°° 


134,5°° 


135 


Japans and varnishes, . 


— 


1,000 


7,50° 


I 


Locks, . . . . . 


2 


2,700 


6,000 


I I 


Lumber, . . . . 




— 


6,000 


8 


Machinery, . . . . 


12 


89,800 


310,000 


239 


Monuments, marble. 


— 


2,200 


5,000 


7 


Musical instruments. 


— 


100 


300 


1 


Paper, . . . . . 


I 


1 1,000 


30,000 


I 2 


Paper-hangings, 


— 


2,500 


6,500 


7 


Plows, . . . . . 


1 


10,000 


48,000 


35 


Presses, letter. 


— 


1,600 


3,500 


4 


Pumps, copper and wuixlen, . 


— 


700 


2,500 


6 


Railroad cars, etc.. 


5 


67,450 


221, 100 


127 


Reeds and harnesses, 




1,500 


8,000 


25 


Saddles, harnesses and trunks, 


4 


2,000 


7,500 


12 


Sieves and wire-work, 


— 


3,000 


8,000 


1 1 


Soap and tallow candles, 


2 


2,000 


4, J 00 


4 


Stone, building. 


. — 


— 


23,500 


T I 


Tin-ware, . . . . 


6 


8,600 


38,500 


26 


Tobacco, snuff and cigars. 


— 


— 


4,000 


8 


Trusses, . . . . . 


— 


1,000 


350 


] 


Umbrellas, . . . . 


— 


3,000 


4,5°° 


6 


Wheels, water, 


— 


3,000 


5,000 


5 


Whips, 


— 


— 


1,500 


2 


Wire, 


— 


60,000 


1 10,000 


51 


Wooden-ware, 


— 


— 


7,250 


10 


Woolen goods, 


6 


— 


194,040 


133 


Totals, . . . . 






$1,739,730 


1911 



The Worcester of 1898. 



451 



Industries of Worcester — 1855. 





-C 


(w 


di 


M-i 


Classification of Goods 
Made. 




So a 


™ 
> ° 


30, S 




"0 


< ^ 


■ 
• 


2; w 


Artisans' tools, 


_ 





$448,424 


334 


Beer 


— 


— 


6,000 


10 


Blacking, .... 


— 


— 


2,000 


2 


Boots and shoes, 


— 


$176,000 


1, 160,970 


1446 


Bo.xes (paper and wooden), . 


4 


3.5°° 


19.165 


19 


Brass founding, 


2 


1,500 


11.75° 


6 


Bread, cake and pastry. 


6 


7,800 


74.50° 


29 


Brick 


— 


— 


32,45° 


55 


Ca!ii])hene, .... 


I 


1,000 


— 


I 


Cards (machine), . 


2 


31,600 


63,000 


IS 


Carriages and wagons, . 


6 


85,200 


203,000 


141 


Chairs and cabinet work, 


4 


7,000 


20,000 


20 


Cigars, ..... 


— 


— 


7.950 


13 


Clocks, watches and jewelry. 


I 


3,000 


10,000 


3 


Cordage, .... 


I 


2.5°° 


— 


3 


Cotton goods, 


3 




104, 1 20 


139 


Cutlery, ..... 


I 


500 


2,000 


2 


Currying, .... 


3 


10,000 


95,000 


18 


Daguerreotypes, 


7 


7,000 


— 


14 


Doors, sashes and blinds, 


2 


4,000 


25,000 


25 


Earthen and stone ware, 


I 


8,000 


18,000 


16 


Firearms, .... 


4 


55.0°° 


130,000 


194 


Firewood, .... 


— 


— 


25.43° 


41 


<.ias, ..... 


I 


90,000 


22,000 


6 


Hats and caps. 


5 


15,000 


— 


55 


Hollow-ware and castings. 


5 


90,000 


479,000 


190 


Hosiery and knit goods, 


I 


3,000 


2 1,500 


17 


Lumber, .... 


— 


— 


1 1,000 


5 


Machinery (cotton and woolen) 


7 


155,000 


373.°°° 


1 90 


Musical instruments. 


4 


1 2,000 


27,000 


26 


Paper, ..... 


I 


3,000 


16,000 


8 


Plows, etc., .... 


I 


1 10,000 


500,000 


225 


Rolling, slitting and nail mills. 


3 


83,000 


332.5°° 


82 


Saddles, harnesses and truiq^s, 


8 


8,Soo 


39.800 


5° 


Soap and tallow candles. 


4 


6,500 


18,000 


22 


Stone (building), . 





— 


16,310 


36 


Tanneries, .... 


I 


4,000 


8,000 


5 


Tin-ware, .... 


9 


1 1,500 


34.5°° 


34 


Upholstery, .... 


3 


4,600 


12,000 


1 1 


Whips, , . . . . 




— 


3,000 


2 


Woolen goods, 


6 


— 


287,070 


— 


Miscellaneous manufactures, . 


55 


237,800 


939.5°° 


1 701 


Totals, .... 






$5,598,939 


521 1 



452 



The Worcester of 1898. 
Industries of Worcester — 1865. 





Pi 




•si 


e of 
Made 
d 
Done. 


,. fd 

fell 


Industries. 




o'H 


3'^ 


rt'S "^-^ 




So a 


>^ 


>o ° 


S^ s 







< '-' 


S 


^ 


2; w 


Agricultural implements, 


4 


$206,000 


$470,400 


$783,442 


290 


Arms and ammunition, 


7 


227,000 


86,500 


449,777 


328 


Artificial teeth & dental work. 


10 


5,55° 


— 


19,300 


16 


Artisans' tools, 


13 


256,95° 


315,334 


804,889 


493 


Boots and shoes, . 


49 


418,026 


1,658,904 


2.586,383 


1940 


Boxes (paper and wooden), . 


3 


16,500 


15,5°° 


26,000 


24 


Brick, tiles and sewer pipe, . 


3 


6, 100 


250 


20,900 


31 


Brooms, brushes and mops, 


I 


5,000 


6,000 


14,000 


18 


Building, .... 


63 


14,600 


211,745 


408,430 


317 


Burial cases, caskets, colfins. 


3 


7,750 


5,700 


18,167 


'5 


Carriages and wagons. 


I 


16,000 


— 


27.500 


15 


Chemical prep, (compounded) 


4 


4,000 


8,000 


12,000 


6 


Clocks, watches and jewelry. 


lO 


4,650 


2,080 


12,500 


16 


Clothing, .... 


66 


1 14,800 


2 18,013 


409,081 


1527 


Cordage and twine. 


1 


800 


4,000 


6,000 


3 


Cotton goods. 


3 


105,500 


55,775 


70,275 


90 


Earthen, plaster & stone ware 


I 


7,000 


3,500 


10,000 


7 


Fancy articles, etc., 


I 


2,000 


3,000 


4,800 


7 


Food preparations. 


17 


48,500 


100,024 


364,572 


93 


Furniture, .... 


15 


25,500 


29,225 


62,637 


34 


Gas and residual products, . 


I 


203,521 


25,926 


55,589 


13 


Hair work (animal and hu- 












man), .... 


3 


400 


700 


1,475 


,; 


Leather, .... 


5 


31,50° 


65,500 


86,920 


■^4 


Liquors: malt, distilled and 












fermented, 


3 


3,100 


35° 


8, 100 


5 


Lumber, .... 


4 


5,000 






8 


Machines and machinery. 


32 


444,300 


807,831 


1,846,469 


939 


Metals and metallic goods, . 


53 


1,290,900 


1,810,830 


3,813,906 


1616 


Models, lasts and patterns, . 


2 


10,750 


5,340 


17,254 


14 


Musical instru. & materials, 


4 


27,900 


22,550 


88,100 


46 


Paper and paper goods, 


3 


37,500 


104,750 


151,000 


84 


Photographs and materials, 


10 


12,500 


45,166 


90,752 


55 


Polishes and dressing, . 


2 


1,500 


2,107 


4,3°° 


3 


Printing, pub, & bookbinding, 


16 


28,400 


38,885 


2i°,733 


95 


Railroad cons, and equip. , . 


8 


103,55° 


217,697 


378,466 


128 


Saddlery and harness, . 


8 


8,350 


9,500 


21,249 


24 


Scientific instru. & appliances 


4 


2,600 


3,9°° 


7,35° 


6 


Stone, ..... 


9 


16,800 


9,607 


42,955 


55 


Tallow, candles, soap, grease. 


8 


4,250 


30,35° 


43,2°° 


15 


Tobacco, snuff and cigars, . 


6 


I 2, 100 


20,800 


45,600 


30 


Whips, lashes and stocks, 


I 


800 


800 


2,000 


2 


Wooden goods, 


13 


24,000 


10,138 


35,171 


63 


Woolen goods, 


14 


850,000 


1, 194,870 


2,255,857 


734 


Totals, .... 


484 


$4,611,947 


$7,621,547 


$15,317,099 


9232 



Currency values: Currency value of $i.oo in gold, $1.57. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



453 



Industries of Worcester — 1875. 





11^ 




Value of 
Goods Made 

and 
Work Done. 


m'a 


a. V 


Iniiustries. 




3 'B,?; 


'^ 




"o 


< ^ 


Z W 


< 


Arms and ammunition, 


5 


$166,000 


$247,150 


227 


$145,803 


Artificial teeth & dental work, 


9 


8,455 


11,175 


* 


* 


Artisans' tools, 


20 


728,925 


593,716 


154 


105,923 


Boots and shoes, . 


85 


1,677,336 


5,402,312 


2,290 


1,182,987 


Boxes (paper and wooden), . 


3 


43,000 


140,000 


62 


40,704 


Brick, tiles and sewer pipe, . 


6 


25,000 


44,300 


* 


* 


Building, .... 


170 


234,43° 


1,744,185 


753 


434,871 


Burial cases, caskets, coffins. 


6 


24,500 


62, 123 


* 


* , 


Carpetings, .... 


5 


131,000 


313,400 


100 


43,384 


Carriages and wagons. 


25 


68,625 


181,532 


90 


58,917 


Clocks, watches and jewelry, 


38 


7,585 


31,223 


24 


11,895 


Clothing, .... 


100 


244,568 


840,351 


813 


339-026 


Cotton goods, 




4 


56,000 


138,885 


176 


53,708 


Drugs and medicines, 




6 


30,35° 


35,036 


4 


2,241 


Fancy articles, etc.. 


■ 


3 


5,000 


19,400 


* 


* 


Food preparations. 




54 


363,464 


2,340,796 


253 


I 10,582 


Furniture, . 




19 


155,95° 


324,492 


103 


68,826 


Leather, 


• 


7 


223,500 


415,260 


86 


55,095 


Liquors and beverages (not 












spirituous), . 


4 


20,500 


83,880 


* 


* 


Machines and machinery, 


54 


1,571,200 


',875,256 


1,093 


709,144 


Metals and metallic goods, . 


75 


2,091,012 


2,430,481 


1,767 


871,859 


Models, lasts and patterns, . 


6 


81,300 


78,045 


* 


* 


Musical instruments and ma- 












terials, .... 


12 


360,450 


488,300 


258 


200,366 


Paper and paper goods, 


2 


150,000 


489,993 


•75 


67,401 


Perfumes, toilet articles, etc. 


7 


6,850 


5,963 


* 


* 


Photographs and materials, 


13 


1 16,200 


150,200 


* 


* 


Polishes and dressing, . 


3 


1,075 


5.333 


2 


726 


Printing, publishing and 












bookbinding, . 


19 


215,470 


302,704 


205 


I 12,221 


Print works, dye works and 












bleacheries, . 


37 


10,495 


23,988 


12 


4,500 


Railroad construction and 












equipment, . 


4 


543,000 


1,252.870 


100 


50,000 


Saddlery and harness, . 


8 


25,550 


78,320 


* 


* 


Stone, ..... 


13 


80,000 


180,615 


149 


73,425 


Tallow, candles, soap, grease, 


7 


28,365 


114,086 


* 


* 


Tobacco, snufif and cigars, . 


14 


38,000 


128,876 


56 


13,737 


Wooden goods. 


29 


159,340 


438,668 


158 


99, I 10 


Woolen goods. 


'3 


563,500 


1,725,631 


760 


329,776 


Other industries, . 


26 


962, 170 


758,222 


900 


323,809 


All Industries, 




911 


$11,218,165 


$23,496,767 


10,770 


$5,5i°,°36 



Currency values: Currency value of $i.oo in gold, $r.i2. 
* Not returned separateh-.' 



454 



THE Worcester of 1898. 
Industries of Worcester — 1885. 





= 


-6 


^ 


l^g 


"if a' 


,. -5 -5 'h 




u s 


c i 


i-i 


u«S 


qT)^ 


S t'°~ 


Industries. 


"S" 


o"* 


^ ^ 




1 o'S 


.hOWo 






'J 


§5 






S.>A 


Arms and ammunition, 


7 


$325,200 


$64,555 


$284,589 


340 


$181,530 


Artificial teeth and dental work, . 


25 


14,421 


7.615 


35.480 


— 


— 


Artisans' tools, .... 


14 


430,650 


70.174 


272,627 


253 


116,338 


Boots and shoes, .... 


55 


1.927.538 


2,612,919 


4.051. 3S4 


2,633 


949,623 


Boxes (paper and wooden), . 


5 


89,400 


73.884 


138,502 


70 


30.173 


Brick, tiles and sewer pipe, . 


5 


36,350 


9.935 


47.70c 


85 


23,600 


Building, ..... 


no 


760,414 


899,159 


1,912,864 


1,502 


629,949 


Carpetings, ..... 


4 


574.7S4 


585,219 


815, 700 


397 


138,025 


Carriages and wagons, . 


28 


71.345 


32,500 


1 17,292 


82 


40,059 


Clothing, 


86 


305,291 


390.528 


1,148,372 


1,065 


294,990 


Cotton goods, .... 


3 


59,121 


33.124 


58,035 


93 


19,408 


Drugs and medicines, . 


30 


29,665 


44.595 


101,773 


16 


9.532 


Food preparations. 


28 


442,561 


1,049,686 


1.374,161 


271 


119.342 


Furniture, ..... 


19 


178,528 


88,898 


222,829 


II I 


53,612 


Leather, ..... 


17 


467,355 


511,958 


651,096 


123 


66,719 


Liquors and beverages (not spirit- 














uous) 


3 


13,000 


2,646 


6,944 


4 


1,936 


Liquors: malt, distilled and fer- 














mented 


3 


130.275 


154.637 


256,536 


44 


29.369 


Machines and machinery. 


69 


2,788,043 


1,132,492 


3.229,957 


2,419 


1,120,318 


Metals and metallic goods, . 


no 


5,526,986 


4,814,236 


8,273,597 


4,162 


2,023,044 


Models, lasts and patterns, . 


3 


9,020 


3.167 


15,600 


II 


7,SSo 


Musical instruments & materials. 


12 


926,759 


398,973 


1,086,146 


490 


304.677 


Paper and paper goods. 


3 


326,751 


579,929 


802,636 


350 


108,666 


Photographs and photographic 














materials, .... 


II 


15.700 


6,542 


29.350 


23 


8,564 


Polishes and dressing, . 


6 


27,275 


39.579 


58.575 


12 


7,242 


Printing, publishing and book- 














binding 


26 


242,230 


148,202 


379.85? 


262 


105,724 


Print works, dye works and 














bleacheries, .... 


3 


37,866 


32,443 


72,998 


58 


18,882 


Scientific instruments and appli- 














ances 


4 


13.815 


4,193 


15,622 


8 


3.054 


Sporting and athletic goods. 


4 


121,725 


148,040 


575,000 


146 


80.355 


Stone 


12 


88,500 


43.20S 


168,824 


164 


77.23S 


Tallow, candles, soap, grease. 


6 


39.550 


34.924 


66,859 


28 


14,458 


Tobacco, snuff and cigars, . 


9 


23,660 


46,281 


92,687 


60 


24.033 


Wooden goods 


14 


88,255 


33.764 


122,343 


85 


38.353 


Woolen goods, .... 


9 


482,891 


339.569 


968,642 


520 


160,792 


Other industries, .... 


29 


1,729,484 


579.182 


1,244,946 


679 


253,270 


All Industries, . 


772 


$18,344,408 


$15,016,756 


$28,699,524 


16,566 


$7,060,755 



The Worcester of 1898. 



455 



Industries of Worcester — 1895. 



Industries. 


2 

•S-g 




Amount of 
)ital Invested. 


-•3' 

|3 


8-= = 

2 jo 




11 

2t3 




W 


0.^3 


5 


> 




< 


^'i£ 


Arms and ammunition, . 


5 


I I 


$294,173 


$101,358 


$492,776 


688 


$299,808 


Artisans' tools, 


20 


34 


343.069 


134.346 


482,786 


342 


185,812 


Boots and shoes. 


94 


134 


780,482 


1,504,107 


2,360,837 


1. 371 


606,712 


Boxes ( paper and wooden ) 


4 


7 


55,798 


123,732 


204,330 


112 


44,926 


Brick, tiles, and sewer 
















pipe. 


6 


6 


15,019 


S.735 


27,624 


24 


10,002 


Building, 


211 


265 


1,095,888 


2,054,909 


4,086,797 


1,791 


1,108,352 


Carriages aud wagons, . 


48 


66 


234.965 


216,479 


442,739 


245 


133.504 


Clocks. watches and 
















jewelry, . 


32 


37 


27.376 


13.953 


54.540 


24 


14,104 


Clothing, 


357 


485 


632,668 


1,030,183 


2,390,480 


1.793 


602,326 


Cotton goods, 


5 


20 


220,706 


413,566 


602,098 


179 


69.367 


Drugs and medicines, . 


62 


130 


38,782 


81,537 


237.632 


43 


23.942 


Electrical apparatus and 
















appliances, 


6 


II 


18,635 


30,190 


63,843 


40 


14.833 


Fancy articles, etc. , 


6 


15 


58,942 


74.053 


202,039 


143 


50,665 


Food preparations. 


72 


107 


808,132 


2,024,284 


2,722,042 


^'^l 


250,662 


Furniture, 


30 


49 


176,444 


207,850 


438,688 


178 


80,440 


Hair work (animal and 
















human), 


5 


5 


1,930 


1.965 


4. 171 


5 


1,326 


Leather, 


7 


16 


1,125,005 


934,800 


1,575.097 


512 


254,968 


Liquors and beverages 
















(not spirituous). 


3 


3 


5,100 


3.031 


8,250 


2 


484 


Liquors: malt, distilled 
















and fermented. 


1 1 


25 


438,218 


356,464 


779,785 


124 


97,585 


Lumber, 


3 


3 


9.440 


10,038 


2 1 , 200 


8 


3,086 


Machines and machinery, 


77 


477 


4.398,402 


1,878,260 


4,491,908 


3.046 


1.549.943 


Metals and metallic 
















goods. 


124 


746 


6,606,085 


4,640,383 


10,950,379 


5.039 


2,759,630 


Models, lasts and patterns. 


6 


II 


97.474 


38,622 


143,506 


76 


58,104 


Musical instruments and 
















materials, 


13 


27 


287,006 


136.495 


377.603 


231 


127,487 


Paper and paper goods, 


5 


28 


611,360 


627,766 


1,010,720 


479 


185,359 


Photographs and photo- 
















graphic materials, . 


19 


23 


48,780 


40,946 


220,719 


49 


25,626 


Polishes and dressing, . 


4 


6 


15.630 


22,052 


30,600 


6 


2,886 


Printing, publishing and 
















book-binding. 


40 


96 


379.298 


161,142 


650,995 


437 


237,864 


Print works, dye works 
















and bleacheries, 


6 


10 


56,016 


97,284 


167,583 


86 


46,228 


Railroad construction 
















and equipment. 


3 


2 


261,500 


77,562 


132,170 


106 


49.896 


Saddlery and harness, . 


>7 


19 


16,352 


18,944 


53.3'o 


31 


18,601 


Scientific instruments 
















and appliances. 


7 


25 


7.5'° 


12,195 


33.144 


10 


4,730 


Stone 


12 


25 


181,770 


38.S97 


145,244 


134 


62,262 


Tallow, candles, soap 
















and grease. 


5 


5 


56,270 


87,027 


119,083 


33 


17.794 


Tobacco, snuff and 
















cigars. 


19 


25 


43.340 


34.537 


111,809 


74 


38.784 


Wooden goods. 


21 


51 


216,025 


225,024 


453,572 


242 


131,687 


Woolen goods, 


10 


20 


725.450 


750.975 


1,461,372 


857 


338,969 


Other industries, . 


40 


273 


2,377.671 


1,861,967 


3,431,140 


1,726 


756,426 


All Lndustries, 


1415 


3298 


$22,766,714 


$20,072,858 


$41,082,611 


21,733 


$10,265,179 



The Worcester of 1898. 457 

WIBE. 

Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Co. — The wire manufactory of the 
Washburn & Moen Corporation maintains in the year 1898 the place it 
has held during the half century as the largest single industrial enterprise 
in Worcester. This great establishment, which gives employment to 4,000 
persons, and indirectly supports several times that number, is the outcome 
of the small beginning made in 1831 by Ichabod Washburn, who, in com- 
pany with Benjamin Goddard, entered into the manufacture of wire in a 
wooden building at Northville, occupied in part by C. Read & Company, 
makers of wood screws, whom Mr. Washburn had induced to come to 
Worcester from Providence and set up their business. It was in connection 
with screw-making that Mr. Washburn produced his first wire, and suc- 
cessfully meeting the requirements of this trade he very soon turned his 
attention to the manufacture of wire for other and more general purposes, 
especially for cotton and woolen cards. 

Three-quarters of a century ago wire was drawn by hand process, the best 
workmen producing only from fifteen to twenty-five pounds each per day. 
Previous to the year 1831 a large proportion of the wire used in the United 
States was imported from England, at a lower price than it could be made 
with the rude American appliances. Mr. W^ashburn saw the advantage that 
would result if the home product could be made to equal foreign wire in 
quality and cheapness, and his mechanical and inventive genius enabled 
him to overcome certain difficulties which stood in the way of success. 
With the adoption and perfection of the draw-block, and the bringing into 
use from time to time as the exigencies required of other appliances and 
methods, the business steadily increased until, within a little more than a 
quarter of a century, the undertaking assumed such proportions as to 
achieve the distinction of being the largest wire manufactory in the world. 

In 1835 Mr. Washburn dissolved partnership with Mr. Goddard, and 
removed from Northville to a new building erected for him on Mill Brook 
by the late Honorable Stephen Salisbury, who also constructed a dam, 
forming Salisbury pond. This building, 80x40 feet, three stories high, 
was the nucleus of the present extensive Grove street works. About 1840 
Mr. Washburn bought and occupied the South Worcester property, in recent 
years operated by the Worcester Wire Company, and before 1850 the Ouin- 
sigamond location was acquired. During this period Charles W^ashburn, a 
brother of Ichabod, was in partnership in the business, the firm name being 
I. & C. Washburn; and later a new company was formed known as Wash- 
burn, Moen & Company, Henry S. Washburn and Philip L. Moen being the 
new partners. Through various changes this concern became in 1869 the 
Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, with a capital of $1,000,000, 
and authority to increase the amount to $1,500,000. 

From wire for card-teeth and other common varieties, the output of the 
establishment was probably first greatly increased by the demand for tele- 
graph wire in 1847 and later. In 1S50 the manufacture of piano wire was 
attempted, and the Worcester product soon superseded the English wire in 




PHILIP L. MOEN. 



H 




CHARLES F. WASHBURN. 



46o The Worcester of 1898. 

the American market. The flat wire used in the manufacture of hoop- 
skirts was produced in large quantity during the time crinoline was in 
fashion, from about i860 to 1870, and this was succeeded by the enormous 
demand and supply of the varieties of barbed wire for fencing. 

In the last few years several new lines of production have been added. 
For over ten years the company has made practically all of its higher grades 
■of steel at its own works, with the best results. The yearly output of steel 
made by themselves is upwards of 40,000 tons. 

A great variety of iron and steel cables, hawsers and ropes is made at the 
Quinsigamond works. 

With the great evolution in the use of electricity, it was found desirable 
to create a new department for the manufacture of insulated wires and 
■cabled conductors. This has developed into a large industry by itself, and 
the consumption of copper for insulated wires and for bare wires for tele- 
graph, telephone and railway pur])oses amounts to many thousand tons 
yearly. 

A large outlet for the steel made in the company's furnaces is found in 
the manufacture of an endless variety of spiral springs for almost every 
purpose. 

All of these departments, with the larger demands for iron and steel wire 
in the commoner forms of ties for binding hay and of barbed wire, so 
universally used, have increased the total output of the works at Worcester 
to nearly or quite 100,000 tons a year. 

It may not be amiss, even in this article, to state that in 1891 the company 
•erected works at Waukegan, Illinois, with facilities for making nearly as 
much wire as is now made at the Worcester works. 

Wire is also manufactured in great variety by the Worcester Wire Com- 
pany. The mill is located on Kansas street on the "old South Worcester 
privilege." William E. Rice is president and treasurer. 

Wire is used in the manufacture of a large number of articles and 
machines, and facility in obtaining the product probably induced the estab- 
lishment in Worcester of several large wire-working concerns. The National 
Manufacturing Company on Union street does a large business in manufac- 
turing wire goods. The origin of the enterprise goes back to 1S31. In 1880 
Charles G. Washburn established the business now carried on under the 
name of the Wire Goods Company, which was incorporated in 1882. A. W. 
Parmelee is president and treasurer, and the factory is on Union street. 
Other concerns are the Wright & Colton Wire Cloth Company on Hammond 
street, Hamblin & Russell Manufacturing Company on Water street, and 
Henry E. Dean on Austin street. 

LOOMS. 

Crompton & Knowles Loom Works. — The parallel history of two great 
industries ultimately amalgamated into one immense corporation of excep- 
tional strength and influence in any particular line of business or of trade is 



The Worcester of 1898. 461 

always of especial interest, but when such an event becomes the subject of 
one of the most important chapters in the history of one's own city, it 
assumes particular interest and importance. 

No better illustration of this fact can anywhere be found than that 
furnished by the record of the rise, progress and development of the 
loom industry, which has contributed so much to the rapid and substan- 
tial growth of the city of Worcester. 

When Carl made his famous "Tour of Main Street" many years ago, it is 
not recorded by the historian that the industry to which this chapter refers 
had begun to assume any especial importance in the minds of the citizens, 
or that the voice of prophecy had in any way associated the city's future 
progress therewith. In fact it is doubtful if the general knowledge of the 
people concerning textile fabrics extended much beyond the homespun and 
hand-woven fabrics of the industrious housewives of the times, and yet in 
the intervening years between then and now this industry has come to 
assume an importance second only to the wire industry of our city, and is 
only exceeded by it in the amount of capital invested, the number of men 
employed and the extent and variety of its production. 

As is suggested by the title of this corporation, the names of Crompton 
and Knowles are synonymous with the development of the art of weaving 
in the United States to the extent that this corporation has become the 
largest of its kind in the world, a fact of which Worcester may justly be proud. 

The foundation for this great business was laid by Messrs. George Cromp- 
ton and Lucius J. Knowles in the early fifties, the former having located in 
Worcester in 1851 in copartnership with Merrill A. Furbush for the manu- 
facture of looms under the renewal of a patent granted his father in 1837, 
and the latter, having been granted his first loom patent in 1856, entered 
into copartnership with his brother, Francis B. Knowles, in the town of 
Warren, removing later to Worcester. 

The two important principles involved in most of the different types of 
looms built by these two rival companies have been, and are still known as, 
the "Crompton close-shed " and the " Knowles open-shed," terms familiar to- 
every user of looms in the world, and to the exemplification and demonstra- 
tion of the advantages of these two widely differing theories of weaving, each 
company constantly gave its undivided attention, and applied the best of the 
inventive skill at its command. 

The constantly increasing demand for textile fabrics of every variety in 
every line of commerce and of trade, and the consequent extension of the 
textile industry throughout the entire country, have contributed very mate- 
rially to a rapidly increasing demand for weaving machinery, to the extent- 
that the growth of the loom-building industry has been truly phenomenal, 
especially when it is considered that it was not until the year 1840 that the 
first fancy woolen cassimeres were woven by power in this country, if not in 
the world, this being accomplished upon the Crompton loom at the Middle- 
sex Mills in Lowell, Massachusetts. 

In 1859 the partnership of Furbush & Crompton was dissolved, and Mr. 
Crompton continued his business alone until his death in 1886, rapidly 



The Worcester of 1S9S. 463 

<leveloping it from its small beginning in the old "red mill" on Green 
Street into the present extensive manufactory at the same location. 

From 1866 to 1879 the firm of L. J. Knowles & Brother, the name given 
to the copartnership existing between Mr. L. J. Knowles and Francis B. 
Knowles, was located at Allen court, when its quarters became so much 
outgrown that it was necessarj^ to move the business to the "Junction 
shop," so called, on Jackson street, where it remained until its continued 
expansion compelled another change. 

Upon the death of Mr. Crompton in 18S6, his business was incorporated 
under the name of the Crompton Loom Works, with his widow, Mrs. M. C. 
Crompton, as its president, she being succeeded at her death in 1895 by her 
eldest son, Charles Crompton. 

Mr. L. J. Knowles died in 1884, and the following year the business was 
incorporated under the name of the Knowles Loom Works, with Francis B. 
Knowles as its president, and upon his death in 1890 Mr. C. Henry Hutchins 
was elected as his successor to the presidency. 

During the many years of the active history of these two partnerships 
and corporations as independent industries, many valuable alterations and 
additions were naturally made to the original machines which were the 
foundations of the business at the beginning. To enumerate these various 
changes in detail would be of little interest to the average reader, a constant 
succession of new patents having also been issued to both companies, and 
numerous other patented devices having been acquired by purchase. In the 
development of these various ideas Mr. Crompton was materially assisted 
by the practical work of his efficient co-laborer, Mr. Horace Wyman, and 
others, and Mr. L. J. Knowles received similar assistance from Mr. George 
F. Hutchins, the able superintendent of his works, the result being that the 
entire product of these two great industries was brought to the highest 
standard of perfection. 

Improvements have not been confined to any especial type of loom, but 
to every department of fancy weaving, to the end that looms are at present 
constructed at these works to weave woolen and worsted goods from the 
heaviest felts to the lightest of dress fabrics; in cotton from the heaviest 
duck for sail-cloths to the most delicate and flimsy material for ladies' wear; 
in carpets from the most elegant Axminsters and Wiltons woven by power 
to the most ordinary carpet made from rags, and from the art square to 
cover a whole room, to a mat for the door; and in silk goods from the widest 
for dresses to the narrowest for ribbons. Looms are also made to weave 
iron wire netting, paper matting, glass cloths for ornamental purposes, horse- 
hair for furniture covering, and for every material capable of being woven. 

Previous to the death of Mr. L. J. Knowles, negotiations were entered 
into for the introduction of the Knowles open-shed fancy loom into the 
European market, and arrangements were completed with Messrs. Hutch- 
inson, Hollingworth & Company of Dobcross, England, large builders of 
machinery, whereby they should build this loom. The wisdom of this move 
is evidenced by the fact that over 15,000 woolen and worsted looms built 
upon this principle have been introduced into the leading mills of England 




LUCIUS J. KNOWLES. 




FRANCIS B. KNOWlES. 




GEORGE GROMPTON. 



The Worcester of 1898. 467 

and the continent. , The arrangement between these two companies not 
only included the building of the loom abroad, but carried with it the con- 
stant interchange of ideas relating to loom construction in all its branches, 
thereby contributing greatly to their mutual and personal advantage. 

In further pursuance of this broad policy in the management of the 
Knowles Loom Works, they in 1893 acquired the business of the George W. 
Stafford Manufacturing Company of Providence, Rhode Island, since which 
time it has been carried on as an independent branch, and has reached such 
proportions as to exceed the most sanguine expectations of the managers of 
the business at the time of its purchase. 

In 1890 the Knowles Loom Works, having again outgrown its quarters, 
removed to its present location at Grand and Tainter streets, into a plant 
which, next to the Wire Works, is the largest in the city of Worcester. 

From the preceding sketch of the history of the loom business as con- 
ducted by these two independent organizations, it naturally follows that 
the advantages of consolidation under one management should gradually 
impress themselves upon those interested in the further development of the 
business, and to this end there was brought about in the early part of the 
year 1897 the consolidation of these two great establishments, with a 
combined capitalization of $3,000,000, under the name of the Crompton & 
Knowles Loom Works, a most important event, not only in the history of 
the two corporations, but in the manufacturing and financial life of the city 
as well. 

Seldom, if ever, has it occurred that two great enterprises of the impor- 
tance of those herein mentioned, each occupying the front rank in the same 
line of manufacture, have both selected the same city as the centre and basis 
of their business operations, and Worcester is particularly fortunate in 
retaining within its limits an organization of this magnitude. 

The present management of this corporation is vested in the same indi- 
viduals as had previously brought the Crompton Loom Works and the 
Knowles Loom Works to their high standard of excellence, the president 
of the corporation being Mr. C. Henry Hutchins, and the remaining officers 
and directors being the same as those connected with the prior corporations. 

The magnitude of the business done by it is indicated by the fact that 
there is scarcely a weaving plant in the United States which does not use 
looms of some one of the types manufactured by it, and the extent of the 
business is well shown by the illustration of the various machine shops of 
the corporation, which is shown herewith, in which fully 2,500 mechanics 
find constant employment. 

The policy of the management for the future as in the past is to be one 
of persistent push and skill, that it may serve its customers in every pos- 
sible way that will to any extent further the progress and development of 
the textile industry throughout the civilized world, and to continue to 
maintain a broad and philanthropic yet conservative interest in the 
municipal advancement of the city of their chosen location. 

The Gilbert Loom Company was established in 1866, and incorporated in 
1894. Open-shed fancy looms for weaving various fabrics, cane and wire 




* > 







\l 







• iv. 



If L 






The Worcester of 1898. 469 

are made. The factory is at 1S6 Union street. C. W. Gilbert is President 
and Treasurer; J. A. Colvin, Vice-President; and Clinton Alvord, General 
Manager. 

A. H. Steele manufactures battens and shuttles used on narrow-ware 
looms, at 54 Hermon street. 

COTTON AND WOOLEN MACHINERY. 

American Card Clothing Company. — In Worcester and the neighboring 
town of Leicester the manufacture of card-clothing has been an impor- 
tant industry for upwards of a century, and has been particularly so in 
Worcester during the fifty years just closed. 

The largest manufacturer of card-clothing in this country, the American 
Card Clothing Company, has its general ofifices in the Knowles block in this 
city. This company was incorporated June 4, 1890, with an authorized 
capital of $1,500,000. Its first president, George L. Davis of North An- 
dover, died December 24, iSgi, and was succeeded by Joseph Murdock of 
Leicester, and on the death of ^Ir. Murdock April 19, 1898, George A. 
Fuller of Providence was elected to the presidency. Mr. Charles A. Denny, 
a leading manufacturer of Leicester and Manchester, has been vice-presi- 
dent and general manager virtually all of the time. Mr. Edwin Brown of 
Worcester, who became a partner in the business of the Earle factory in 
1872, and agent and treasurer when the T. K. Earle Manufacturing Com- 
pany was formed in 1881, has been treasurer of the American Card Clothing 
Company since it was organized, and for the past two years H. Arthur 
White of Philadelphia has been the company's secretary. 

In 1S91 the American Card Clothing Company purchased outright facto- 
ries in Worceste.1-, Leicester, Philadelphia, Providence, Walpole, North 
Andover, Lawrence, Manchester and Lowell. The two Worcester factories 
were those of the T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company and the Sargent 
Card Clothing Company, and in November, 1890, the lease of the building 
near the South Worcester station having expired, the business of the latter 
was transferred to the Grafton street factory, and is run by the American 
Card Clothing Company in connection with the m.achinery purchased of the 
T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company. The Sargent factory was one of the 
largest in the State, and was equipped entirely with modern machinery, 
and now being connected with the Grafton street factory under one 
management, it becomes one of the best arranged establishments in the 
country. 

The largest of the American Card Clothing factories is located in Worces- 
ter, and naturally is the one in which Worcester people, as a whole, are most 
interested. The building was erected by T. K. Earle & Company in 1857, 
and enlargements to the original building have several times been made. 
The members of this firm, Messrs. T. K. and Edward Earle, were descended 
from Pliny Earle of Leicester, who in 1790 was the first in America to 
engage in the manufacture of machine card-clothing. In his time !Mr. T. 




"IMOTHY K. EARLE. 



The Worcester of li 



47 E 



K. Earle was the acknowledged head of the card-clothing industry in this 
country; his factory was one of the best eciuipped, and in it many important 
improvements originated. 

The equipment of all of the American card-clothing factories has been 
thoroughly modernized, improvements are constantly being introduced, and 
the company's directors and the managers of its several factories are men 
of large experience. Not only card-clothing of a superior quality is pro- 
duced, but the machines used are also manufactured in the company's 
machine-shops, and these machines are covered by patents in this country 
and foreign countries. 

The organization of this great corporation has been of benefit to textile 
manufacturers. It has resulted in uniformity and reduction in prices, 
betterment in quality of production, and has tended toward a feeling of 
security and reliability in textile business generally. 

Albert H. Howard, son of Ebenezer A. and Lucy (Harrington) Howard, 
was born in Worcester, Otsego county, New York, December 14, 1843. His 
father was a native of Connecticut, and his mother was born in Grafton, 
Massachusetts. When Albert was eleven years of age, the family removed 
to Spencer, Massachusetts, where the lad received such schooling as the 
town afforded at that time, and assisted his father on the farm until he was 
eighteen. He then went to Leicester, the adjoining town, and learned the 
card-clothing trade, and subsequently worked in Andover and Worcester. 
In 1867 he entered into business with his brother, Charles A., and Clarence 
Farnsworth for the manufacture of card-clothing, and on the retirement of 
Mr. Farnsworth the following year the firm was designated Howard Brothers, 
and thus remained until it was incorporated in 1888. The factory was- 




HOWARD BROTHERS MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 




ALBERT H. HOWARD. 



The Worcester of 1898. 473 

located in Washington square until the large building erected in \'ine street 
in 1892 was occupied. Of the Howard Brothers Manufacturing Company, 
Mr. Howard is the president and general manager. His native energy is 
illustrated by the fact that when in 1890 his concern refused to enter the 
syndicate of the American Card Clothing Company, and in consequence was 
deprived of facilities for procuring the cloth backing for cards, he went to 
England and returned in twenty-eight days with machinery which enabled 
his company to make its own cloth, and it is now the only American factory 
which owns such machinery. 

Howard Brothers Manufacturing Company has established a well-deserved 
reputation for the quality of its goods. 

In politics Mr. Howard is a staunch Republican. In religion he is an 
Orthodox Congregationalist, and was for several years a deacon and member 
of the Standing Committee of the Salem Street Church. He now attends 
Plymouth Church. 

December 14, 1866, Mr. Howard married Ruth L., daughter of Jotham 
Randall of Spencer. Of three children born of this union two are living, 
Edith L. and Ethel L. 

Charles F. Kent. — Charles Frederick Kent, son of William Stone and 
Mary (Howard) Kent, was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, September 23, 
1S34. The family for several generations was well known in Leicester, and 
intermarried with the Watsons, another prominent family, one of whom, 
Samuel, began in 1814 the manufacture of cloth in that town. An aunt of 
William S. Kent, Lydia Watson, died in 1889 at the great age of 102 years. 

The father of the subject of this sketch was employed for twenty-one 
consecutive years by the old card-clothing firm (now extinct) of Woodcock 
& Knight, and after an interval returned and was engaged with J. & J. 
Murdock for several years longer. He died in 1885. His brother, Samuel 
Watson Kent, became a noted builder of card-machines, removed to 
Worcester in 1858, and continued in successful business there till his death 
in 1883. 

Charles F. Kent received his education in Leicester schools and academy, 
and was employed more or less during his boyhood in the card factory with 
his father, and continued at this trade after he passed his majority. In 1S56 
he married Maria E. Bond. In 1861 he removed to Worcester and entered 
the employ of T. K. Earle as assistant foreman, and remained in that situa- 
tion four years, when he was engaged as superintendent by Davis & Furber, 
who were about to start the card-clothing business in Andover. Mr. Kent 
successfully established this plant and conducted it for three years. In 
1868 he returned to Worcester and was superintendent of the Sargent Card 
Clothing Company's shop for eleven years, when the business was purchased 
l)y James Smith &; Company of Philadelphia. 

In 1880 Mr. Kent started the card-clothing business for himself in a 
small way on Southbridge street, and this was the nucleus of the present 
large establishment conducted by him. The machines used were con- 
structed by his uncle, Samuel Watson Kent, and on these he made im- 
provements which vastly increased the speed. This was the beginning of 




CHARLES F. KENT. 



The Worcester of it 



475 




FACTORY OF CHARLES F. KENT. 



liigh-speed carcl-clnthiiiLC machines. Mr. Kent carried nn his business 
entirely independent of the card-clothing combinati(.)n, and has continued 
in this way to the present time, being the first manufacturer to take that 
stand and maintain it. 

In 1S90 he visited England to purchase improved machinery, and tiy 
enlarge his facilities for the procuring of cloth, wire, etc., much of which 
he imports. On his return he purchased the property at the corner of 
Chandler and Bellevue streets, refitted the shop, and removed his factory 
there in iSgr. With a capacity of about 500 square feet daily production, 
his facilities for the manufacture of card-clothing of all kinds are adequate 
to the demands of the trade, and he enjoys a well-earned reputation for 
enterprise and business integrity. 

Curtis & Marble Machine Company. — Among the early manufacturing in 
Worcester was that of cloth-finishing machinery. As early as 1831 Mr. 
Albert Ctirtis established the business in a small shop at New Worcester. 
At first he made only shearing-machines for woolen goods, but gradually 
he enlarged his work by the addition of other kinds of machinery for 
finishing cotton and woolen cloth. 

In 1863 Mr. Edwin T. Marble purchased an interest in the business and 
became the active manager. The partnership of Curtis & Marble continued 
for thirty-two years. Their plant on Webster street was from time to 
time enlarged and a greater variety of machinery built. Shearing-machines 
have always been their specialty, and improvements in them have con- 
stantly been made, so that at the present time they are the largest manu- 
facturers of varied styles and widths, adapted to nearly every class of 
fabrics manufactured, ranging from light lappet lawns to heavy rattan 
mats, and from narrow silk braid to three-yard rugs and carpets. For 
finishing woolen, worsted, felt and knit goods, they build besides shearing- 



The Worcester of 1898. 477 

machines an extensive line of machinery for gigging, napping, brushing, 
pressing, measuring and rolHng, etc., together with many special machines 
required for different fabrics. In addition to these they furnish a very 
complete variety of machines for finishing the many different kinds of 
cotton goods from light muslin to heavy duck, and also finishing machinery 
for silk, cotton and mohair plushes, velvets, corduroys, etc. 

In 1875 Messrs. Curtis & Marble purchased and removed to Worcester 
the patterns and machinery of the Goddard Wool Burring Machine Works 
of New York city, thus adding a new department for the manufacture of 
burring, picking and mixing machinery for preparing wool for carding. 

Mr. Curtis sold his interest in the machinery business to Mr. Marble in 
April, 1895, ^nd the following December the business was incorporated 
under the name of the Curtis & ]\Iarble Machine Company, with a capital 
of $75,000. During 1897 the company built a large plant at 56 Cambridge 
street, near Webster square, where they are now located. The main build- 
ing of this new plant is 228 feet x 64 feet, four stories high, and is through- 
out a model in mill construction; an ell 40 feet x 75 feet contains the power, 
heating and lighting equipment. There is also a blacksmith-shop 40 feet x 
50 feet, and-in the rear the necessary storehouses, lumber-sheds, stable, etc. 

The new factory is equipped with new and modern machinery, and in 
all its appointments is as complete as any in the city. About 100 skilled 
mechanics are employed. 

The officers of the company are: President and Treasurer. Edwin T. 
Marble; Vice-President, Edwin H. Marble; Secretary, William C. Marble; 
Cashier, Chas. F. Marble; Superintendent, Albert C. Marble. The pro- 
ducts of this company are distributed throughout the United States and 
Canada, with frequent shipments to England. Germany, Russia, japan and 
^lexico. 

Harwood & Quincy Machine Company. — The ukl method of hand-feeding 
to woolen cards has largely been abandoned. Ingenious machines which 
do the work far better and more accurately have superseded it. One of 
the leading machines used for this purpose is the Bramwell feeder, the 
invention of Wm. C. Bramwell, who began its manufacture in 1875. I''' 
1878 the firm of Harwood & Quincy purchased the patents and rights and 
arranged with Mr. Edwin H. Wood, a skillful manufacturer of Worcester, 
to produce this feeder for them. This Mr. Wood continued to do in his 
own shops until 1881, when the Harwood & Quincy Machine Company was 
incorporated, and since that time Mr. Wood has' been that company's 
general manager in Worcester. 

The shops of the Harwood & Quincy ^lachine Company were built in 
1881 and are well-lighted brick structures on Lagrange street adjacent to 
the Boston & Albany, New York, New Haven & Hartford, and New 
England railroads. The story of the success of the Bramwell feeder is best 
told in the statement that nearly 10,000 of them have been made and sold 
on this continent since the patents were purchased from Mr. Bramwell. 

The present officers of the Harwood & Quincy Machine Company are: 
John Harwood, President; Sydney Harwood, Treasurer; and E. H. Wood, 



478 



The Worcester of 1898. 




FACTORY OF HARWOOD & QUINCY MACHINE COMPANY. 

General Manager. The Messrs. Harwood reside in Boston, but ^Nlr. Wood, 
the general manager, has made Worcester his home for almost a half 
century. 

Other large establishments are N. A. Lombard & Company, 64 School 
street, which dates back to 1823; the Cleveland Machine Company at 54 
Jackson street, making carding, spinning, twisting and finishing machinery; 
Johnson & Bassett, Foster street, wool-spinning machinery; David Gessner 
at 172 Union street, finishing machinery for woolen and cotton goods; and 
A. K. Windle, 32 Union street. B. S. Roy & Son, 775 Southbridge street, 
make patent improved card-grinding machinery of every description. 
George L. Brownell, 49 Union street, builds spinning and twisting ma- 
chinery for hard or soft twines, lines and cordage. 



THE ENVELOPE INDUSTRY. 

Logan, Swift & Brigham Envelope Company. — This corporation was. 
formed in March, 1884, the members being James Logan, Henry D. and 
D. Wheeler Swift and John S. Brigham, all formerly connected with the 
Whitcomb envelope factory. The location first occupied was at Xo. 16 
Union street. The company liegan the manufacture of envelopes with 
Leader and Reay machines, but these were superseded bv new dex'ices 
invented by the Messrs. Swift, who stocked the plant with the necessary 



The Worcester of 1898. 



479 



machinery for rapid and economical production. The quality of goods 
manufactured has always been the best, and perfect reliability has always 
marked the transactions and products of this concern. It has set the stand- 
ard in grade, and has scrupulously maintained and insisted upon correct 
representation in all matters. It has thus gained an honorable reputation. 
No traveling salesmen have ever been employed, Mr. Logan from the first 
attending to the trade. The business of this company has expanded to 
large proportions, and at the time it was consolidated with the United 
States Envelope Company in August, i8g8, it operated the largest envel- 
ope manufactory in the United States, and had the finest plant. In 1X89 
the erection of the present factory on Grove street was begun, and the 
building was occupied the following year. In 1S97 an addition was made 





If If II hP'H 1(1' 111%^ 

fill- :i - .1 i__ 
BBffffflfffilJ 




LOGAN, SWIFT & BRIGHAM ENVELOPE FACTORY. 



increasing the space one-third. About 200 hands are employed. The 
establishment is now known as the Logan, Swift & Brigham Division of 
the United States Envelope Company. The only member of the original 
firm now in active connection with the business is Mr. Logan. Mr. Brigham 
died in 1S97, and the Swift brothers retired after the consolidation with the 
new compan)-. 

James Logan, son of David and Mary (Kennedy) Logan, was born in 
Glasgow, Scotland, May 6, 1852. His parents came to this country when 
he was about three months old, and after living a short time in Connecticut 
removed to Worcester in 1853. His father was employed several years as a 
watchman by the Norwich & Worcester Railroad Company, and later 
engaged in farming in Cherry Valley, to which locality the family re- 
moved after a short residence on Millbury street. James attended the 
lower grade public schools, but before he reached the age of ten years 
was put to work in the Parkhurst woolen mill at Valley Falls. This 
mill was the lower one of a series, all being dependent upon water- 
power, and in consequence the mill was idle a portion of the day during 



48o 



The Worcester of if 



school hours, and the lad was able to improve some opportunities for educa- 
tion which were opened to him by a kind-hearted teacher in the school- 
house near by, and being an apt scholar was able to maintain equal rank 
with the regular pupils. An accident in the mill, which for a time disabled 
him, caused him to turn his thoughts to other means of gaining a livelihood, 
and he acquired the principles of and became proficient in bookkeeping. 
He was first employed in the office of S. R. Heywood's boot shop, and later 
he kept books for A. Y. Thompson, the well-known dry-goods dealer, and 
then for G. N. & J. A. Smith at Cherry Valley. In 1873 he entered the 
book-store of vSanfonl & Company, and remained there five years; and from 

June, 1878, to December, 1882, was 
in the employ of G. Henry Whit- 
comb & Company as bookkeeper 
and salesman, in the latter capacity 
building up a large and reliable 
trade. 

Near the close of the year 1882 
Air. Logan formed a partnership 
with George H. Lowe of Boston, 
under the firm name of Logan & 
Lowe Envelope Company, and 
began the manufacture of en- 
velopes with Leader machines in 
Stevens' block on Southbridge 
street. This business was pros- 
ecuted with indications of success, 
but in July, i<SS3, the partners 
had such inducements to abandon 
the enterprise made them that the 
factory was closed, the machinery 
sold, and in September following 
Mr. Logan resumed his former 
connection with the Whitcomb 
Company, which, however, was 
continued but a short time, for 
in January, 1SS4, the Logan, Swift &- Brigham Company was formed, with 
Mr. Logan as senior member. On the consolidation of this concern with the 
United States Envelope Company, Mr. Logan was elected vice-president 
and general manager of the last-named corporation. 

Mr. Logan possesses remarkable business qualifications, which have proved 
of invaluable service in building up the commercial relations of the great 
corporations with which he has been connected. Of strict integrity, clear 
judgment and genial manner, he is much esteemed in the community, and 
is often called to places of responsibility and trust. He is president of the 
Worcester County Mechanics Association, a director of the Worcester Board 
of Trade, and a member of the Grade-Crossing Commission. He has been 
for many years prominently connected with Central Church, and is one of its 




JAMES LOGAN. 



The Worcester of if 



481 



deacons; has been president of the Young Men's Christian Association; is a 
member of the Congregational Club, and of The Worcester Society of 
Antiquity; and is a Free Mason. He is much interested in art, and 
possesses many fine paintings. 

Mr. Logan married in 1879 Annie D., daughter of Levi Johnson. Of 
four children, one son and two daughters are living. 

Henry D. and D. Wheeler Swift. — These brothers, to whose inventive 
genius and practical ability the great advance in envelope manufacturing 
during the last thirty years is largely due, are natives of West Falmouth, 
Massachusetts, sons of Daniel and Hephzibah (Hoxie) Swift. Daniel Swift 
owned and worked a small farm in West Falmouth, and here brought up his 
sons with such advantages as the country district schools afforded. Their 
father was of an inventive mind 
and good mechanical ability, and 
in early life was concerned in ship- 
building with his brother Seth. 
One of their ships coursed the high 
seas for more than fifty years. 
While deprived of the much cov- 
eted advarjtages of education, a 
generous compensation was theirs 
in an inherited inventive genius, 
which by close study and appli- 
cation resulted in most successful 
development. The family were 
members of the Society of Friends, 
and in that connection the broth- 
ers continue to-day. 

Henry D. Swift, the elder of the 
brothers, was born May 21, 1S33. 

At the age of eighteen he went 
to North Fair Haven to learn the ""^ 

cabinet-maker's trade, in which 

' HENRY D. SWIFT. 

he became proficient, and worked 

for several years in its different branches, particularly at wood-turning. 
D. Wheeler Swift was born June 12, 1840. In 1861 the brothers produced 
their first invention — a clothes-wringer — for which they obtained a pat- 
ent, and engaged in its manufacture at South Dedham, now Norwood, 
but sold the patent soon after, and the wringers are still jirofitably manu- 
factured by other parties. In the spring of 1864 Henry D. came to 
Worcester and was employed in wood-turning at the shop of John :\I. 
Goodell on Cypress street, and while here made the acquaintance of 
James G. Arnold, who had invented an envelope-machine, which he 
soon after sold to G. Henry Whitcomb & Company. Messrs. Arnold 
and Whitcomb were desir(jus that ]\Ir. Swift, of whose mechanical ability 
they had become aware, should operate the machine in the manufacture 
of envelopes, which was about to be started by Mr. Whitcomb; but the 




482 



THE Worcester of 1898. 



young mechanic, who had a family to support, naturally hesitated at what 
then seemed an uncertain venture, but finally sent for his brother, D. 
Wheeler Swift, who was unmarried, to come to Worcester and undertake 
the task, which he did in the fall of 1864. 

Mr. Arnold's machine was theoretically a great invention, intended to 
perform nearly all the operations which have since been accomplished by 
envelope machinery, but practically it proved a failure and had to be dis- 
carded. In the meantime Mr. Whitcomb moved from School street to 
Main street, near the corner of Walnut, and in the spring of 1865 purchased 
a machine patented by George H. Reay, which with several others of the 
same pattern bought later, the younger Swift operated successfully several 

years, until the demands of the 
business necessitated more rapid 
and cheaper production. Henry 
D. Swift during this period also 
became an employee of the Whit- 
cumbs, and together the brothers 
introduced many improvements to 
the Reay machines, and invented 
a band-cutting machine, emboss- 
ing-machine, a gum-mill, sealing- 
niachine, combination cutter, and 
iitlier appliances which greatly 
facilitated the work in the factory, 
the most notable of which was 
the folding-machine patented in 
1 87 1, which resulted in much profit 
to the Whitcomb Company, not 
only reducing the cost of produc- 
tion, but by the sale of the old 
Reay machines, the price received 
for each machine sold being suffi- 
cient to build two of the Swifts' 
patent. The Reay machine and 
the Swift patent were folding-machines, which fastened the bag part 
of the envelope, but did not gum the flap. This had to be done by 
hand, and the desideratum now was a machine which would perform this 
operation in addition to what these could compass. After much cooper- 
ative study and effort this was successfully accomplished by the brothers, 
and in 1875 the Swift self-gumming machine was patented. This machine 
included the counting and registering mechanisms, which made it 
possible for one girl to operate two machines. At the end of ten years 
thirtv-one had been constructed and were in operation in the Whit- 
comb factory, giving that concern a great advantage over its competitors. 
Within a short time the Swift automatic printing-press was produced, the 
use of which enabled the Whitcomb Company to obtain the contract for 
printing the envelopes of the Western Union Telegraph Company, a result 




WHEELER SWIFT. 



The Worcester of 1898. 483 

of great pecuniary benefit to the proprietors of the factory, the Swifts 
having assigned to them the controlling right in all their patents. The 
Whitcomb manufactory with these advantages largely increased its capacity 
of production, and soon outstripped all its rivals. At the time of the 
formation of the Logan, Swift & Brigham Company, it had become the 
largest envelope factory in this country if not in the world. The causes 
influencing and the circumstances attending the forming of the new com- 
pany, with which the Swifts associated themselves, need not be entered 
into in this sketch. The record of the advance of this enterprise is one of 
hard struggle, desperate courage, wonderful persistency and great patience 
under formidable difficulties at first, and complete triumph and success in 
the end. All the obstacles to mechanical execution in the business had to 
be overcome anew by methods and machinery different from those formerly 
originated by the Swift brothers in order to avoid infringement of their old 
patents, which were controlled by their former employers; but their genius 
and skill were equal to the task, and the results greatly surpassed their 
earlier efforts. Their abilities and the remarkable business qualities of 
^Messrs. Logan and Brigham formed an exceptional combination of great 
power, and the outcome could not have been other than what it was. 

The Swift brothers are quiet, unassuming men, of gentle manner and 
kindly presence, who carry out in their every-day life the principles which 
govern the sect to which they belong. Retired from active business, they 
are in the full enjoyment of the fruit of their labors and of their just 
reward, late but ample. Henry D., the elder, married April 14, 1861, 
Emma C. Fuller of Sharon, Massachusetts, and of four children two sons 
survive: Arthur Henry, a missionary of the Iowa Board of Foreign Missions 
of the Society of Friends in the island of Jamaica; and Willard Everett, 
now in school. ^Ir. Swift is much devoted to the study of astronomy, to 
which he has resorted for years as a diversion from the vexations and cares 
of business. He has built on his estate on Channing street an observatory, 
which is equipped with a fine equatorial telescope with magnifying power of 
450 diameters, the finest instrument in this section, and in its use he is an 
adept. D. Wheeler Swift resides in a beautiful home on Oak avenue. He 
married in 1S71 Sarah Jane Gifford of Xorth Dartmouth, Massachusetts. 
They have no children. 

The Swift brothers have taken much interest in the improvement of 
their native village. West Falmouth, and by their generous donations have 
made possible the erection and furnishing of a handsome library building. 

John Stillm.w Brigh.a.m, son of John Mason and Arminda C. (Stillman) 
Brigham, was born in Worcester May 12, 1847. He received his education 
in the common and high schools of the city, and at the age of eighteen 
became bookkeeper for D. H. Fames, the well-known clothier in the store 
at Harrington corner. He also kept books evenings for the Worcester 
Horse Railroad Company during this period. In 1867 he entered the employ 
of the Whitcomb Envelope Company, and remained in that situation eighteen 
years. In 1884 he was one of the organizers of the Logan, Swift & Brig- 
ham Envelope Company, and was treasurer of that concern until his decease. 



484 



The Worcester of 1898. 



His ability, application, industry and good judgment contributed much 
towards the advancement and success of that great business, and as a result 
he accumulated a handsome fortune. 

Mr. Brigham was naturally of a retiring disposition, and never put him- 
self forward for public office. He was, however, elected a member of the 
Common Council from Ward i, and served two terms, 1887 to 1890 inclusive, 
and he also served as one of the Board of Overseers of the Poor for several 
years. He was a member of Central Church, and prominent in the work of 
that religious organization. Thoroughly devoted to his family, his busi- 
ness, and the care and enjoyment of his beautiful home, he left a wide 
circle of friends to regret his untimely death, which occurred suddenly at 

Colorado Springs February ig, 
1897, where he was sojourning 
for a time for the benefit of his 
health. 

Mr. Brigham married Nellie J. 
Spurr. His widow and one son 
sur\-ive him. 

Whitcomb Envelope Company. — 
In August, 1S64, G. Henry Whit- 
comb began to manufacture en- 
velopes on School street, under 
the name of the Bay State Enve- 
lope Company. In November of 
that year he removed to the 
Partridge building, opposite the 
old Central Exchange on Main 
street, with rooms running back 
to .Walnut street. At this time 
the name first used was abandoned, 
and he continued under his own 
name until 1866, when his father. 
JOHN s. BRIGHAM. th^ l^i^c David Whitcomb, be- 

came a partner, and continued in 
that relation until his death, the style being G. Henry Whitcomb & 
Company. In the spring of 1865 new machines were purchased, and the 
business increasing a new building was erected in Bigelow coiut, off 
I'ront street, and a removal effected January i. 1S66. The firm con- 
tinued in this location until 1873. when the first portion of the present 
extensive plant was occupied. In 1879 the southeast ell was erected; in 
1886 the Prescott street addition was built, and in 1892 another ell was 
added, so that now it is one of the largest envelope factories in the country, 
and has a floor space of between two and three acres. The firm has largely 
developed and built most of its machinery, and evolved to the same end, but 
through diff"erent lines, most of the improvements in methods in use by 
other concerns. As late as 1880 envelopes were gummed by hand, but 
since that date this process has been accomplished by ingenious machinery. 




The Worcester of 1898. 



485 



Rapidity in, and consequently cheapness of, production have been the great 
desideratum in this business, and it has been achieved in a wonderful degree. 
Formerl)- five girls could produce 60,000 envelopes in a day. Now one girl 
can make 75,000 in the same time, and by the perfected machinery a far 
better envelope. The Whitcomb factory has a capacity of 2,000,000 envel- 
opes a day. Since 1868 a large paper-box manufactory and a printing 
establishment has been carried on by the concern in connection with the 
envelope business. In 1884 the Whitcomb Envelope Company was incor- 
porated, with David Whitcomb as President, and G. Henry Whitcomb as 
Treasurer. On the death of Islr. David Whitcomb in 1887, Mr. G. Henry 
Whitcomb was chosen to fill the vacancy, and acted as president and 
treasurer till 1894, when Mr. ^I. F. Ijickinson, Jr., was elected president. 




'5M»| ; J ill ]i!!' 



WHITCOMB ENVELOPE FACTOR r. 

!Mr. G. Henry Whitcomb acted as vice-president, and continued as treasurer. 
^[r. Henry E. Whitcomb was chosen secretary and assistant treasurer in 
1894. 

In August, 1898, the entire property and business of the company, includ- 
ing its real estate, was sold to the United States Envelope Company, and 
at present the plant is operated by them under the name of Whitcomb 
Envelope Company Division. ^Ir. Henry E. Whitcomb is the manager, 
and represents the third generation i:)f Whitcombs that have carried on this 
business. 

The W. H. Hill Company, whose factory is located on Water street, 
represents the original envelope manufacturing concern in Worcester in 
direct line from Doctor Russell L. Hawes,* the inventor of the first 
practical envelope-machine. His successors in 1857 were Hartshorn & 



' See sketch and portrait of Doctor Hawes in Biographical Department. 



The Worcester of 1898. 487 

Trumbull, and they were succeeded in 1861 by Trumbull, Waters & 
Company. In 1866 Hill & Devoe took the business, and later Mr. W. 
H. Hill was the proprietor until his death. The Hill Company consoli- 
dated in 1898 with the United States Envelope Company. The old Hawes 
machines in this factory were, many years ago, superseded by the inventions 
of Mr. Abram A. Rheutan, who largely stocked the plant. Some Reay 
machines were also used in this establishment. 

The Worcester Envelope Company, Fuster street, has manufactured 
envelopes for several years. This concern was an offshoot from the 
Logan, Swift & Brigham Company. It is independent c)f the United 
States Envelope Company. 

A new envelope company has recently been formed by John A. »Sherman, 
who was for several years superintendent of the Whitcomb factory, and who 
withdrew soon after that concern was absorbed by the United States Com- 
pany. 

CARPETS AND TEXTILES. 

William James Hogg & Son. — The progenitor of this family in this 
country was William Hogg, a wealthy linen manufacturer, born in Scot- 
land, who came to America early in the present century, and settled in 
Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. His son, William Hogg (second), 
a staunch Presbyterian, removed to Philadelphia when a young man and 
engaged in the manufacture of shawls and other woolen fabrics, and in 1832 
began the manufacture of carpets, which was then in its infancy in this 
country, and many of the present large carpet manufacturing concerns in 
Philadelphia date their origin from this house, where their founders were 
employed in various capacities. 

William Hogg (third), the father of William James Hogg, was born in 
Philadelphia in 1820, and died June 8, 1883. He married Catherine L. 
Horner, and had by this marriage five children, William James Hogg being 
the only son. 

William James Hogg was born in Philadelphia June 5, 185 i. He received 
his education at Doctor Faires' private school of that city, and at LaFayette 
College, eastern Pennsylvania. In 1872 he was taken into partnership with 
his father, the name of the firm being the Oxford Mills. In 1879 he came 
til Worcester, and in company with his father bought the Crompton Carpet 
Company's plant, which company had been unsuccessful. The name was 
changed to the Worcester Carpet Company, the firm name being William 
James Hogg & Company. William James Hogg still retained his interest 
in the Philadelphia firm, the Oxford Mills, until 1882, when he withdrew 
from that firm and bought out his father's interest in the Worcester Carpet 
Company, becoming the sole proprietor. 

In 1883 he built a new mill, enlarging the weaving capacity of the mills 
one-third, and in 1884 he added to this plant the factories known as "The 
Pakachoag Mills," which plant was purchased from George Crompton, whose 



The Worcester of 1898. 



489. 




ILLIAM JAMES HOGG. 



spinning-mill had been burnt to the 
ground. In 1885 this spinning-plant 
was further enlarged by building a wing 
to meet the demands of a rapidly grow- 
ing business. 

The product of the Worcester Carpet 
Company's business is Wilton and body 
Brussels carpets of the finest grades,, 
and this product finds a prompt market 
all over the United States. The business- 
has been steadily prosperous from the 
start, and now gi\-es employment to about 
500 operatives, which operatives for the 
most part are skilled workmen. Owing 
to the increasing demands for rugs 
throughout the United States, Wilton and 
Brussels rugs of every description are 
now being manufactured. The sales, 
offices are located in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Omaha, Nebraska. 
The facilities of power for running this plant were improved by Mr. Hogg 
buying the Stillwater pond and dam. 

William James Hogg married Frances Happoldt of Philadelphia in 1871, 
by whom he has two daughters and three sons living. The eldest son, 
William F. Hogg, was taken into partnership on January i, 1897. In addi- 
tion to the carpet mills, in 1887, Mr. Hogg with H. C. Stockwell bought 
the property known as the Stoneville Mills, Auburn, which were refitted 
and furnished with new machinery for the manufacture of worsted and 
woolen yarns, under the name of the Stoneville Worsted Company. The 
product of these mills is sold to the carpet manufacturers of Philadelphia 
and elsewhere, and gives employment 
to 150 operatives, nearly all of whc^m 
reside in cottages, all of which are owned 
by the company. 

Like his father, who was largelv in- 
terested in real estate in Philadelphia, 
William James Hogg has for years been 
a large investor in building lots in the 
southwestern section of this city, where 
he owns large tracts of land, which he 
has improved by opening new streets 
and building a number of modern houses 
for investment. About eight years ago 
he purchased a summer residence for 
himself, the famous Hillside farm, once 
the home of the celebrated temperance 
orator and reformer, John B. Gough, 
which he has further beautified and im- 




WILLIAM F. 



490 



The Worcester of 1898. 



proved, and his success there as a raiser of pure bred Jersey cattle is 
unsurpassed, even by his manufacturing industry. 

In politics, both William James Hogg and William F. Hogg are Republi- 
cans, and both believers in the principles of protection to American industry. 
During the past year William James Hogg has completed and now occupies 
the residence at the corner of Elm and Ashland streets, one of the most 
beautiful houses in that neighborhood. William James Hogg is a director 
of the Ouinsigamond National Bank, the Worcester Board of Trade; trustee 
of the Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank, and is connected with other 
banks. He is largely interested in charitable work and associations, many 
of which are deeply indebted to his generosity. He ranks also high in the 
Masonic order, and is widely known as a successful manufacturer, a liberal 
and public-spirited citizen and a genial gentleman, for though a young man 
he has won a prominent place in business circles, chiefly by his own energy 
and enterprise. 

William F. Hogg was graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, subse- 
quently taking a course at Harvard College, leaving the latter to enter a 
business life. He has been employed in every department with a view of 
thoroughly learning the manufacturing business, and represents the fourth 
generation of the family in carpet manufacturing in this country. Both 
father and son are members of leading social clubs of Worcester, Boston and 
New York, and own and appreciate good horses, in the riding and driving 
of which they are very proficient. As both gentlemen are young, and have 
a practical knowledge of their business, the success of the Worcester Carpet 
Cnm])any is assured. 




CITY RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM JAMES HOGG, 54 ELM STREET. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



491 




HILLSIDE," SUMMER RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM JAMES HOGG. 



Matthew J. Whittall was l):irn in Kidderminster, England, ^ilarch 10, 
1843. He received a practical education in his native town, and at the age 
of twenty-one moved to Stourport, taking there the entire charge of the 
carpet works of Thomas B. Worth, a well-known manufacturer of carpets, 
and remained there six years. He was married at Stourport in October, 
1868, to Ellen, youngest daughter of the late Henry Paget. Five children 
have been born to them, of whom a son, Matthew Percival. and a daughter, 
Edgeworth Paget, are now living. 

In 187 1 ^Ir. Whittall came to this country as superintendent of the 
Crompton Carpet Company in Worcester, and remained in that position 
until 7879, when the company was dissolved. The following year he pur- 
chased machinery for the manufacture of Wilton and Brussels carpet, leased 
a building at South Worcester, and began to manufacture on his own 
account. In 1S85, his business increasing rapidly, he bought land and 
erected his first carpet mill, which the next year was extended, and in 18S9 
he built another, and in 1891 the third, which with the Edgeworth mill for 
the manufacture of worsted yarns, purchased in 18S5, and several additions 
made in later years, cover an area of nearly 200,000 square feet of land. 
In 1892 he bought out the Palmer Carpet Company, and is still running 
that factory, which is one of the principal industries of that thriving village. 

Mr. Whittall's long and practical experience as a carpet manufacturer 
■enables him to take advantage of everv novel idea which can be utilized 



The Worcester of i5 



493 



in the production of new and desirable goods. His carpets are always in 
-demand throughout the country, and the order to supply the government 
buildings with carpets has been given to him from 1891 to 1897 inclusive. 
President and Mrs. McKinley also complimented Mr. Whittall by the choice 
of his carpets for some of their rooms in the White House. 

Rapid strides have been made in the manufacture of carpets since the 
industry was started in Worcester as well as a great reduction in prices. 
This is largely due to the wonderful improvements in machinery and 
reduction in profits. Besides the standard patterns made, new English and 
French designs are constantly being introduced, and also many original 
ones by his own artists. Previous to 1897, only Wilton and Brussels carpets 
had been made in Worcester, but in that year he started an entirely new 
industry to this city, the manufacture of Wilton plush carpets. The num- 
ber of carpet looms now in operatiim in his various mills is 146. 




Ml IHLW J. WrilFTALL'b bPIlN N ING-MILL. 



Mr. Whittall is a liberal-minded and public-spirited gentleman, and has 
«ntered into the active life and interests of his adopted city and country. 
He is a director of the Board of Trade, the Associated Charities, the Peo- 
ple's Savings Bank, and the Manufacturers' Mutual Insurance Company ; 
president of the Blackstone Valley Street Railway Company, and vice- 
president of the American Car Sprinkler Company ; a member of the Grade- 
Crossing Commission, the Worcester Club, the Commonwealth Club, the 
Tatassit Canoe Club, the Episcopal Clubs of Worcester and Boston, and a 
prominent Mason. 

In 1S95 Mr. and Mrs. Whittall gave to the Parish of St. Matthew, of 
which he has been warden since 1874, the beautiful church building now 
standing on the corner of Cambridge and Southbridge streets. On the 
opposite corner is his house, which with its extensive grounds, laid out in 
excellent taste, forms one of the pleasantest and most attractive residences 
in the city. 




MATTHEW J. WHITTALL 



The Worcester of 1898. 



495 




RESIDENCE OF MATTHEvV J. 'A'HITTALL, 692 SOUTHBRIDGE STREET. 

Worcester Textiles. — Manufacture of woolens is confined principally to 
cassimeres and satinets. The Worcester Woolen Mill, incorporated in 1881, 
produces fine woolens and broad cassimere and suitings. E. D. Thayer 
manufactures cassimere and piece-dyed goods. The Curtis ^Manufacturing 
Company operate two mills, one for satinets, the other for cassimeres. 
Other satinet mills are those of A. W. Darling, F. C. Smith, Southgate 
Woolen Company, and the Hopedale Manufacturing Company. F. A. Lap- 
ham, L. L. Brigham and Thomas Williams also manufacture woolen goods. 

In cotton goods J. C. Green makes cotton warps and fancy cotton, and 
light woven goods are manufactured at the Wachusett Mills. The Worces- 
ter Textile Company is a concern established in 1897 by former employees 
of the Knowles Looms Works. The product is union and Turkish toweling 
in variety, and the output is large. L. D. Thayer and H. M. Witter & 
Company make webbing and tapes. There are three thread mills in the 
city; Glasgow, the Ruddy, and the Worcester. 

MACHINERY AND TOOLS. 



F. E. Reed Company This is one of the leading manufacturing corpor- 
ations of Worcester. It was incorporated in 1894, with Mr. F. E. Reed, 
President and Treasurer, and Mr. J. R. Back, Superintendent. This 
company makes a specialty of the manufacture of lathes. The business- 



The Worcester of 1898. ^g^ 

was established in ZS75, and has steadily increased since then to very laro-e 
proportions. The firm now occupies an extensive plant on Gold street 
extending to Lamartine street, the large brick buildings of which contain 
more than one and one-half acres of floor space, with solid foundations for 
the heavy machinery used in the works. The firm gives emplovment to 
about 2.5 workmen, nearly all of whom are skilled machinists. The shops 
are well lighted by windows and sky-lights, and by electric lights at night 
and no expense has been spared to make the establishment one of the mos^ 
complete in the country for the manufacture of machine-tools 

The Reed lathes early acquired and have maintained a high standard for 
excellence, not only in the United States, but in nearlv ^verv civilized 
country m the world. Their specialty in manufacture is a superior line of 
engine-lathes from ten to thirty inches swing, but thev also build chuckino-- 
lathes, hand-lathes, wood-turning lathes for manual ti'ainino- school use and 
screw-cuttmg and plain foot-lathes. 

The product of this company is well and favorablv known throuo-h„ut the 
mechanical world. The designs of their machinery are thoroughlt^ modern 
and up o date; and they maintain the very highest class of workmanship 
by employing the most skillful workmen to be obtained. The pay-roll of 
the company amounts to about $140,000 per year, and this monev, cominc 
as It does from all over the world in payment for their product, is dis^- 
tnbuted among the artisans of Worcester, thus literally adding to the 
wealth and well-being of our city by bringing money into it from other 
places and retaining it here. 

Alonzo Whitcomb, proprietor of the Whitcomb Manufacturing Company 
was bom at Saxton's River, . village in Rockingham, Vermont, April 30 
J^SuS He IS a descendant of the John Whitcomb who came to Boston from 
bngland about 1630, and was one of the first settlers of Lancaster, Massa- 
chusetts. Alonzo was the oldest son of Colonel Carter Whitcomb and his 
wife, Lucy, a daughter of Jonadab Baker, who was a highlv respected 
citizen of Marlborough, New Hampshire. He came to Worcester in ,84, 
and wa? employed in the machine shops of S. C. Coombs & Company until 
I 49, when with his brother, Carter, he purchased the copying-press business 
C^eorge C. Taft on Union street, in the old Howe & Goddard shop This 
business assumed considerable proportions in a few years, and the firm then 
known as C. Whitcomb & Company, needing larger quarters for its ^row- 
ing business, moved, in 1852, into the Merrifield building at the corner of 
Lnion and Exchange streets, where it remained until burned out in the 
great fire of 1854. After the fire, the business was moved to the -Junction 
shop for a few months, and then back again to the Merrifield building this 
time at the corner of Exchange and Cypress streets. Li addition to the 
manufacture of copying-presses, the firm also took up the manufacture of 
metal- working machine-tools soon after its first establishment in the Merri- 
held building, and this branch of the business has since far outstripped that 
ot making copying-presses. In 187 i Carter Whitcomb retired from the firm 
and It has since been known as the Whitcomb Manufacturing Company' 
Larger quarters still being required, Mr. Whitcomb moved, in 1872 to the 




ALONZO WHITCOME 



The Worcester of 1898. 499 

Estabrook shop at the Junction, and later, in 1877, to the Rice & Griffin 
shop on Gold street. Here Mr. Whitcomb experienced another disastrous 
fire, suffering a loss of $45,000, with but $5,000 insurance. In 1892 he built 
his present shop at the corner of Sargent and Gold streets, and has since 
occupied it in carrying on his business. 

The principal products of the company now are metal planers, shears, 
punches and copying-presses, of which the first named have become the 
company's specialty. As many as 4,000 copying-presses were made by Mr. 
"Whitcomb in a single year at one period, and the planers produced by him 
now number over 2,600. In partnership with Augustus Rice, Mr. Whit- 
comb succeeded to the business of Timothy F. Taft in 1866, and, as a 
separate firm, under the name of Rice & Whitcomb, carried on the business 
of making metal shears and presses, until the retirement of Mr. Rice brought 
about the union of the two concerns owned by Mr. Whitcomb about the 
year 1881. 

Mr. Whitcomb was the projector and one of the founders of the Kabley 
Foundry Company, which carries on a very successful business of making 
castings at 56 Gold street, and is now its treasurer. In this fiftieth year of 
his business, it may be said that, notwithstanding heavy losses by two 
destructive fires, Mr. Whitcomb has never ceased to do business, and main- 
tain his credit unimpaired. Personally, he is of a quiet, retiring disposition, 
never seeking public notice, happy in his family, and at eighty years is as 
active as men usually are at si.xty-five. 

Draper Machine Tool Company. — In the half century just closed, Worces- 
ter has gained for itself a wide reputation as a metal-working centre, and 
the making of lathes and machine-tools has formed no inconsiderable por- 
tion of the city's manufactures. 

The pioneer lathe industry of Worcester was that from which the Draper 
Machine Tool Company is the outgrowth. It antedates the incorporation 
of the city, having been started in 1845 by Shephard, Lathe & Company, 
and was known as the Lathe & Morse Tool Company immediately previous 
to the organization of the present company. 

The works were moved to Gold street in 1881, and in 1896 the size of 
the plant was fully doubled by the addition of a large four-story brick 
building in -the rear. They are operated by a seventy-five horse-power 
engine, and from seventy-five to a hundred men, the most of them skilled, 
are given employment. 

The products are engine-lathes, special crank-planers, screw-machines, 
etc. In these, improvement has followed improvement, and recently a 
lathe has been perfected which is considered second to none in the market. 
The company's products have long been widely known, and they are in use 
not only throughout the Lfnion, but in many foreign countries. 

The Draper Machine Tool Company was organized in 1892 with a capital 
of $60,000, and in 1896 the capital was increased to $90,000. From the 
start the officers have been: Honorable William F. Draper, President; and 
C. E. Thwing, Treasurer. The former, a resident of Hopedale and the 
present ambassador to Italy, has been interested in the industry since 1S91, 



500 The Worcester of 1898. 

and 'Sir. Tliwint;', the treasurer, has been connected with it since 1.S79. He 
is a son of one of the former proprietors, and previous to coming into the 
office had gained a practical knowledge of the manufacturing part by 
regular apprenticeship and experience in the works. 

P. Blaisdell &- Company, Jackson street, continue the business established 
in 1855 by Parritt Blaisdell, a former employee of Wood, Light & Company, 
a well-known firm forty years ago. Mr. Blaisdell died in 1874. and the 
Inisiness was taken by ]. P. Jones, S. E. Hildreth and Enoch Earie. On the 
death of Mr. Hildreth his son succeeded to his interest. The Powell Planer 
Company, 385 Cambridge street, was incorporated in 1887. Iron planers 
and appliances for lathes are the specialties made. Prentice Brothers, 383 
Cambridge street, make drilling machinery and engine-lathes. The L. W. 
Pond Machine Company, Mc^Iahon & Company, and others, are in this line. 

Norton Emery Wheel Company. — The industry of this company illustrates 
in its growth what able direction may accomplish. It was started in an 
experimental way by Mr. F. B. Norton something more than a quarter 
of a century ago, and was conducted on a small scale in connection with his 
pottery business on Water street. Not until 1880 had it become of any 
importance, and its great development really dates from 1885. 

June 20th of that year the Norton Emery Wheel Company was organized. 
It purchased the emery-wheel bvisiness from Mr. Norton, and in 1887 
erected a building for the industry at Barber's Crossing. This measured 
120x50 feet, and was greater than was then needed, and the company 
offered for rent a portion of the premises. But in comparatively short 
time not only all of this building was needed by the company, but greater 
space became imperative to accommodate the growing industry. The third 
addition in way of enlargement to the original building had been made, and, 
as the demand for more space continued, another large building, a structure 
of brick and iron, was erected in 1896, and this virtually doubled the size of 
the factory. These are among the important additions that have been 
made, but plans are drawn for a brick extension to the main building, and 
to this the offices and shipping-rooms are to be moved. 

In the meantime, in 1893, an important addition to the business of the 
Norton Company had been made by the purchase of the stock and good- 
will of the Grant Corundum Wheel Manufacturing Company of Chester, 
Massachusetts, that company's works having been destroyed by fire. 

Up to 1897 the boiler and engine rooms had been in the basement of the 
original building, but in the fall of that year a new power-house of brick, 
measuring 40 x 70 feet, was erected, and in this the company has exception- 
ally well-fitted and conveniently-arranged premises. A new Westinghouse 
engine of 200 horse-power capacity has been installed, as have new upright 
boilers, a large generator for lighting all of the buildings by electricity, and 
the Webster apparatus for heating them by steam. Six great kilns have 
been erected, and in these not only the grinding-wheels, but fire-brick for 
the factory's use are kilned. Much of the machinery and many of the 
devices used are from s])ecial designs and covered by patents ciwned by the 



The Worcester of 1898. 



501 



Norton Ciimpany. These are built in the company's well-equipped machine- 
shop, as is also grinding-machinery for the market. It will be seen from 
the foregoing that the plant is complete in itself. 

The works are immediately on the line of two great railway systems, the 
Boston & Maine and Fitchburg, a spur track running through the original 
building, rendering teaming unnecessary either in receiving fuel or raw 
material, or in shipping the manufactured product. Each of the two rail- 
roads makes Barber's Crossing a regular station for both passengers and 
freight, and the Norton Company's express matter is taken from or put 
aboard the cars at the company's doors. 

The principal business, that in which the company is most widely known, 
is the manufacture and sale of emery wheels, corundum wheels, and wheels 
in which emery and corundum are combined, and a successful novelty is the 
emerv brick or rub-stone. 




Raw material is received at the factory, as ground emery and ground 
corundum, in different degrees of coarseness. It is largely of imported 
stock, though some native material is used for special purposes, but all must 
be (if the purest quality. 

The different processes it undergoes — sifting, mi.xing, puddling, shaping, 
drying, baking, truing and testing — are interesting. Of the millions pro- 
duced, every wheel is numbered and registered ; a history of its treatment 
from the time of its shaping is preserved, and before leaving the works it is 
subjected to a test many times greater than it is ever apt to receive when 
in actual use. 

Norton wheels are now used for an almost infinite variety of purposes. 
Their shapes and sizes are almost numberless, but there is only one quality, 
and that the best. They range from 1-4 to 36 inches in diameter, and from 
1-32 to 4 inches in thickness. Thirty degrees of coarseness are made, about 
120 different kinds and numbers of emery are used, and there is a possibility 
of some fifty degrees of hardness. 



502 THE WORCESTER OF 1 898. 

About 175 people, the most of whom are skilled, are employed in the 
works, and an idea of the magnitude of the business may be formed from 
the fact that though the greater part is order work, some 500 tons in 
finished stock is usually carried. 

Since the organization of the company, there has been no cessation in the 
growth of its business. Its products now go to every portion of the civilized 
world, and though the reputation enjoyed is second to none, the constant 
aim is at improvement. 

The capital of the Norton Emery Wheel Company originally was $20,000, 
but it has been increased to $102,000. The officers are, and from the start 
have been: M. P. Higgins, President; George I. Alden, Treasurer; Charles 
L. Allen, Secretary; and John Jeppson, Superintendent. The home office 
is at the works, but the company has selling agents in nearly all of the larger 
cities in the United States and in many foreign countries. 

Goes Wreach Company. — In 1836 two young men of Worcester. Loring 
and Aury G. Goes, started in a small way the manufacture of woolen-mill 
machinery. They were in a little shoj) at what was then called Court 
Mills, a few rods south of Lincoln sipiare. Two years later they were 
burned out, and, having nothing with which to resume their work, they 
both removed to Springfield, and for nearly three years were employed as 
|)attern-makers in a foundry. 

During this time they were studying up some new inventions, and in the 
winter of 1840 and '41 they returned to Worcester, and procured letters- 
j)atent on a screw-wrench. This patent was granted to ^Ir. Loring Coes in 
A])ril, 1841. 

The brothers then hired a small shop at Court Mills, and started business 
in a very humble way, having no money at their disposal; but with energy 
and perseverance they succeeded in overcoming the obstacles incident to a 
wa'nt of capital. A few of these improved wrenches were made, and put on 
the market in one of the Worcester hardware stores. Their superiority was 
at once recognized and acknowledged, and the way was open for orders. 
Later they removed to the basement of Albert Curtis's shop at New Worces- 
ter, where they continued the manufacture, but on a larger scale. 

In 1845 a building was purchased, and the business became one of the 
largest of that time. This building had been used as a woolen mill, and 
was 30 X 70 feet, two stories high and a basement. Later on, as the demand 
for these wrenches increased, another building was erected of the same size 
and style as the other; also a blacksmithing shop, 50 x 75 feet, was built in 
the rear and on the same lot. 

These brothers thus continued in business for over twenty years, but in 
1869 the partnership was dissolved, and the large property which they had 
accumulated was divided. Mr. A. G. Coes took the wrench plant, and with 
his sons, John H. and Frederick L., continued the business at Webster 
square. Mr. Loring Coes took the knife shop on Mill street, which was 
another factory that they owned and had been running. 

Two or three years after this dissolution of partnership, Mr. Loring Coes 
built the new and modern factory at Coes square, and began the manufac- 



The Worcester of 1898. 



503 



ture of wrenches. The old patent had expired, and several improvements 
were made. This new plant consisted of a main building, 50 x 75 feet, three 
stories high and basement; a forging shop, 50x50 feet; a two-story build- 
ing, 30x125 feet, the ground floor being used as engine and boiler room, 
and the upper story was arranged for storing manufactured goods. In the 
centre of the main building is a tower with a clock. This clock was origi- 
nally in the steeple of the Old South Church which stood on the Common. 
Mr. A. G. Coes died in 1875, and his sons continued the business at the 
old factory until i888, when a joint stock company was organized and duly 
incorporated, and the manufacture of Coes' patent screw-wrench by the two 
firms was thus united. The name of the company is the Coes Wrench Com- 
pany, and the capital stock $roo.ooo. Mr. Loring Coes is the President; 
John H. Goes, Treasurer: and Frederick L. Cues, Secretary. 




COES SQUARE FACTORY OF COES WRENCH COMPANY. 



This company is operating both plants, and the shops are equipped with 
special machinery, which is adapted to the rapid and accurate production of 
the class of goods manufactured. The beautiful pond above these factories 
furnishes a fine water power, but at certain seasons of the year it is insuffi- 
cient, so that steam power is provided to meet that emergency. 

The "Coes patent screw-wrench " is a standard article in the hardware 
market. It is made in eight sizes and two styles of finish, and it is sold 
all over the world. This company has now the only manufactory of screw- 
wrenches in Massachusetts. It employs about 150 hands, and turns out 
from 30,000 to 40,000 wrenches per month. The Coes Wrench Company is, 
and has been for years, one of the leading establishments of Worcester. 

Morgan Construction Company. — The business of this company was estab- 
lished in i.SSS l>y ^Ir. Charles H. Morgan, and three years later the present 
company was incorporated. The capital stock of the company is $50,000, 
and the officers are: Charles H. Morgan, President and Treasurer; Paul B. 
Morgan, Secretary and Assistant Treasurer; and V. E. Edwards and R. L. 



504 



The Worcester of 1898. 




MORGAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, LINCOLN STREET. 



Morgan, Mechanical Engi- 
neers. The office and works 
occupy buildings owned by 
Mr. Charles H. Morgan, 11 
to 21 Lincoln street. 

The business of the com- 
pany is the building of roll- 
ing-mill machinery for steel 
billets, merchant shapes, 
rods, cotton ties and barrel 
hoops ; also wire-drawing and 
hydraulic machinery; and 
special attention is given 
to the ec^uipping of entire 
|)lants. including buildings, 
boilers, engines, machinery, 
etc. The manufacture of 
gas-engines has been entered 
upon, and a full line of sizes 
will soon be placed upon the 
market. 
The business of the company has steadily increased in volume, and in 
addition to that in this country a large export trade has been developed. 
The engineering branch of the business is, perhaps, of the most importance; 
a number of skilled designers and draughtsmen are employed. In addition 
to the drafting department there are departments for patent-making, black- 
smiting and general machine work. About sixty men are now employed. 

This company holds patents upon a number of special devices for the 
handling of the enormous product of modern rolling-mills, which is so 
nuirh increased over previous practice that the disposition of its product by 
hand would be quite impossible. A specialty is made of the continuous 
system, which process of rolling steel is at i)resent being adopted by leading 
concerns in this country and in Europe. 

Morgan Spring Company. — This company was incorporated in iSSi with 
a capital stock of $50,000, and immediately began business on Lincoln 
street, at which place it was contined until two years ago, when the fine 
plant at Barber's Crossing was finished, and to which the works were 
removed. Here the facilities for shipping the ])roducts are excellent, the 
buildings Vicing on the tracks of both the Boston & Maine and the Fitch- 
burg railroads. 

The company manufactures the best grade of oil-tempered steel wire; also 
spiral and flat springs of every description, many being made for agricultural 
implements. There are departments in the works for wire-drawing, tem- 
pering and spring-making. 

For motive power this company has one of the largest and most complete 
gas-engine plants in the L^nion, fuel gas for the engine and other purposes 



The Worcester of 1898. 



505 




MORGAN SPRING COMPANY, BARBER'S CROSSING. 



being made on the premises. In the busier seasons about 125 people are 
emplo3'ed. The business is growing in volume all the time, and the trade 
■extends to all parts of the United States and Canada. Charles H. Morgan 
is President; and Francis H. Morgan, Treasurer and General Manager. 

The Union Water Meter Company was incorporated under State law 
November 9, 1S6S. The first building occupied by the company was a one- 
story wooden building erected on the rear of lot 31 and 33 Hermon street. 
In 1872 the present brick building, 100 feet long. 45 feet wide, with four 
stories and basement with engine and boiler rooms, was erected, and the 
■old building was used for a brass foundry. 

In 1885 the lot No. 35 and 37 Hermon street was bought, and a second 
brick building 80 x 40, with three stories and basement, was erected. The 
'Company was formed to manufacture water-meters. The first meter made 
by the company was the Ball & Fitts reciprocating piston meter, the joint 
invention of Honorable Phinehas Ball (who was the first president of the 
•company, and held that position until his death in 1894) and Benaiah 
Fitts. 

The chief peculiarity of this meter is in its having but one valve to do all 
the work of admitting, discharging and regulating the flow of water to and 
from the four cylinders. 

The valve is a rotary conical valve, having parts so arranged that when 
they are opened by the revolution of the valve on its axis, the admission 
and exit of water to and from the cylinder is made gradual. This meter 
is made in sizes from g inch to 4 inches inclusive. 

In 1876 this company brought out the Union rotary piston meter, the 
invention of Benaiah Fitts. This meter was of peculiar construction, the 
working parts consisting of two revolving pistons, used in duplicate, inter- 
locking each other, so as to form a continuous revolving diaphragm or 
abutment between the inlet or outlet ports, in the same manner as the 
])iston in the steam f>r water cylinder forms a complete dam or dividing 
oibutment between the parts <if the inlet and exhaust valve. The pistons 




JOHN P. K. OTIS. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



507 




UNION WATER METER COMPAQ- 



HERMON STREET. 



are guided or controlled in their revolution by elliptical gears. This style 
of meter is made in all sizes, from g inch to 12 inches inclusive, and is- 
the largest positive measuring meter made. 

In 1892 this company brought out the Columbia pattern meter the 
invention of Honorable Phinehas Ball. This meter was specially made and 
adapted to use in waters that carry more or less sediment, or that have a 
tendency to form deposits in the inside of meters. It is very simple in 
construction, consisting of a vertical valve chamber with its corresponding 
valve, and a measuring chamber with a revolving piston. This style meter 
is made only in the small or house sizes. 

Besides the manufacture of water-meters, this company manufactures 
water, steam, gas and air pressure regulators, steam fire gongs, chronom- 
eter governor valves, hydraulic valves, cement-testing machines, cement- 
lining presses, hand-feed drills, corporation, waste and band stops, etc., 
etc. It also executes special hydraulic work. The product of this com- 
pany is used in every state and territory of the United States, and is 
favorably known in quite a number of foreign countries; this last part of 
the trade, as well as home consumption, is rapidly increasing, due to the 
fact that the utility of meters in reducing the waste of water is becoming 
better understood. 

It has been proved conclusively that in cities using meters the consump- 
tion of water is from one-fourth to one-third of the consumption of water 
in cities of similar size and conditions not using meters. 

The officers of the company are: John C. Otis, President and Treasurer;. 
John P. K. r)tis. 'Manap'er; Edward P. King, Superintendent. 



.508 



The Worcester of 1898. 



Matthews Manufacturing Company. — The cut below represents the new 
and commodious factory of the Matthews Manufacturing Company, located 
at No. 104 Gold street. This company was incorporated under the laws of 
Massachusetts in February, 1894, with a paid-up capital of fio.ooo, the 
•officers being: F. E. Reed, President; [ohn Reed, Treasurer; and A. T. 
Matthews, General Manager. Stove trimmings, steam -pipe collars, bicycle 
fittings, ferrules and sheet metal specialties are the principal products of 
the factory. 

The company was originally organized in April, 1890, by Mr. Matthews 
and the Messrs. Reed at No. 116 Gold street. Mr. Matthews having had 
several years' previous experience in this particular line, their products met 
with a ready sale, and the increase of the business was such that in 1S96 




yxnmss m MtArriLWi a>. 
hofictsiw.y^ss 



Matthews manufacturing company. 



m(.)re room was needed, and the new factory was built and Htled with all 
the latest improved machinery, so they now have one of the finest plants of 
the kind in the State. 

The officers are thorough business men, well and favorably known to the 
trade as well as in the vicinity in which they reside, and the company, by 
straightforward business methods, has attained a high mercantile rating. 

Mr. A. T. Matthews, the general manager, is a native of Maine, coming 
to Worcester in 1864, since which time he has been identified with the man- 
ufacturing interests of the city. 

Coates Clipper Manufacturing Company. — This company's plant is located 
at No. 237 Chandler street, and is a brick building, 50 x 100 feet, two stories 
and a basement, giving over 22,000 feet of floor space. The works are 
operated by a seventy-five horse-power steam engine; are heated by the hot- 
air system, and lighted by their own electric plant. An artesian well, yield- 
ing an ample supply, furnishes water for the boilers and the nickel-plating 



HE Worcester of iSgS. 



509 




department. The simp was enlarged 
to its present dimensions about five 
years ago, and is equipped with the 
latest and most improved machinery. 

The principal articles manufactured 
are finger-nail cutters, flexible shafts, 
and Cijates's patent hair-clippers in 
about sixty different styles adapted for 
barbers', horsemen's and toilet use. 
These goods find a market in the 
United States, Canada, England, Ger- 
many, France, Sweden, Australia, 
South Africa, Egypt and other coun- 
tries. (.)ver sixty hands are employed, 
and the capacity is over 300 clippers 
per day. The company was incor- 
porated in 1894. Oeorge H. Coates 
is President and Treasurer; and B. 
Austin Coates, Secretary and Assistant Manager. 

The business was started by Mr. Coates in a very small way. His first 
invented hair-clipper was one that would cut different lengths, called an 
adjustable clipper. His business increasing, he built a one-sti:>ry shop, 
40x50 feet, at the present location, and later this was superseded by the 
large factory now occupied. Great accuracy in the manufacture of these 
goods is required, as a very fine hair between the cutting plates will stop 
the working of a clipper. 

ilr. Coates is a native of Windsor, Vermont, born in 1849. He was 
educated in the public schools, and graduated from the Windsor Academy. 
His first mechanical training was at the Windsor Armory, famous for its 
original gun machinery, and in which the system of duplication of parts 
was first applied, this being the system used at the Coates factory to-day. 



GEORGE H. COATES. 




7: J ^\-':J^3''QW'&'m'W^\^rM \^i Plttpn'Tiw^S 



COATES CLIPPER MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 



The Worcester of 1898. 511 

Mr. Coates came to Worcester in 1869, and attended the excellent even- 
ing drawing school at the Polytechnic Institute, from which institution he 
derived great benefit in later years. He worked a number of years for 
Ethan Allen and his successors, Forehand & Wadsworth, and is familiar 
with all the details of firearms manufacture. Of an inventive turn of 
mind he has taken out over thirty patents in the United States, Canada and 
Europe, and has done his share in the development of the city's industries. 

B. Austin Coates, his son, was born in Worcester, educated in the city 
schools, graduated from the high school in 1896, and afterwards took a 
special mechanical course in the Polytechnic Institute. 

Agricultural Implements and Machinery. — The Ames Plow Company, 
Prescott street, represents the business established in Worcester in 1833 
by Joel Nourse, who made at that time "improved plows." Later with 
Draper Ruggles and John C. Mason, the long and well known firm of 
Ruggles, Nourse & Mason was formed, and continued in business until 
i860, when the works were purchased by Oliver Ames & Son, and the 
establishment has since that date been known as Ames Plow Company. 
The output is a variety of agricultural tools and machinery, wheelbarrows 
and plows being the considerable product. 

The Richardson Manufacturing Company, Prescott street, manufactures 
Buckeye mowing-machines, hay-tedders and manure-spreaders. 

Paper-Making Machinery. — The Rice, Barton & Fales Company prob- 
ably represents the oldest and largest paper-machinery manufacturing con- 
cern in the United States. This business was established in 1836 by 
Howe & Goddard, and afterwards the firm became Goddard, Rice & Com- 
pany. Printing and dyeing machines for calico and other fabrics are also 
made by this company. 



FIREARMS. 

Harrington & Richardson Arms Company. — The business of this company 
was founded in 1871, in which year F. Wesson and G. H. Harrington 
formed a copartnership and located on Manchester street. In 1S74 the 
Wesson interest was purchased by Mr. Harrington, who soon after took as 
partner William A. Richardson, the firm then being known as Harrington 
iS: Richardson. 

The products were shell-ejecting revolvers, and this establishment is said 
to be the first to successfully produce shell-ejectors on metallic cartridge 
revolvers. 

Various other styles have since been added and improvements made and 
patented from time to time. 

In the fall of 1876 the business was moved to Hermon street, and in 
March, 1894, it was again moved, this time to the fine brick plant on Park 
avenue, corner of Chandler street, which the company had erected and 
fitted with new and improved machinery for its especial needs. 



The Worcester of 1898. 












ppB.e 






F-LTOPt LF _ ._ _ . . .___.... 

In 1880 Harrington & Richardson became sole licensees for the manu- 
facture of the Anson & Deeley hammerless gun, an English innovation, and 
continued its manufacture for about five years. 

In 1 888 the firm of Harrington & Richardson dissolved partnership and 
reorganized as a stock company with the following officers: Gilbert II. 
Harrington, President; William A. Richardson, Treasurer; and George F. 
Brooks, vSecretary. Mr. Harrington died June 22, 1897, and Mr. Richard- 
son was chosen president, filling the ofifices of president and treasurer until 
he died, November 21, 1897. Since the death of the latter, Mr. Eilwin 
C Harrington has been president, and George F. Brooks continues as 
secretary, and also fills the position as treasurer. 

The business of the Harrington & Richardson Arms Company is the 
manufacture of revolving firearms exclusively, and all of the arms manu- 
factured by the comi)any have a high reputation for accuracy, finish and 
durability. 

Forehand Arms Company. — The engraving on page 510 represents the 
Forehand Arms Company, the business originally established by Ethan 
Allen. A more extended notice of this industry may be found in the per- 
sonal notice of Sullivan Forehand in the Biographical Department. 



CORSETS AND UNDERWEAR. 

The Globe Corset Company On December i, 1S93, John E. Lancaster 

hired a small loft on the fifth floor in a building owned by Stephen Salisbury 
at 15 Union street, and commenced the manufacture of corsets, under the 
style of the Globe Corset Company. 

Mr. Lancaster was for a little less than two years connected with the 
Worcester Corset Comi)any, but the knowledge gained there was of a char- 




L. 




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514 



The Worcester of 1898. 



acter to help but little in the new venture, and a beginning was made at 
the rock-bed foundation of the corset business; 2^1r. Lancaster drafted and 
made the first patterns, and personally cut the first samples; one girl was- 
hired, and with the first samples completed they were taken to market by 
the proprietor and the first order secured. Additional hands were put to 
work in a few weeks, with Mr. Lancaster doing the cutting and superintend- 
ing and teaching the work at each process, and attending to all correspond- 
ence and keeping the books at night. "It was from 6.45 a. m. to ii p. m. in 
those days," to use Mr. Lancaster's own words, "and we had all the trials 
and set-backs of all new concerns struggling for life, and in addition we had 
the 'hard times' of 1893 and 1894 to further contend with, which were the 
worst ever known then." 

From this small beginning, step by step, overcoming all obstacles as they 
were met, working along the lines of certain principles adopted at the 




FACTORY OF GLOBE COP.SLT COMPANY. 



beginning, bringing into play every p(.iint that energy could accom- 
plish or brain conceive, the Globe Corset Company has advanced in five 
years to a recognized rank among the leading corset manufacturers of 
America. 

From a small space of less than 2,000 square feet, occujiied during the 
first few months, additions have from time to time been made until the 
company occupies over twenty times more than at first. 

There are now offices and salesrooms at Boston, New York, Chicago and 
San Francisco, from which a corps of twenty-two salesmen travel into every 
state in the Union. The entire output of the factory is sold direct to the 
retail dealers under the brand "Globe." 

Nearly 100 styles of corsets are manufactured from every variety of fabric 
and to fit every figure. The machinery equipment comprises the very latest 
and highest speed machines, and many patented devices of their own are 
used to improve the work and cpiicken the production. All grades of 
corsets, from the lowest figure to the highest, are made, and there are very 
few stores which do not carry some style of Globe corsets. 



The Worcester of 1898. 515. 

The rapid growth and extension of the business, up to 1897, brought 
about the necessity of a larger and broader organization, and in March, 
1897, the business of John E. Lancaster was organized into a corporation, 
under Massachusetts laws, with a capital of $75,000, and the following 
officers were elected, and still hold the same position: John E. Lancaster, 
President and General Manager; Frank E. Lancaster, Treasurer. Since 
this time, up to the present writing, the enlargement in each department 
has been very rapid, and the future is bright and satisfactory. 

This company holds the record for steady employment given to its many 
hundred employees, the business having been run upon full time continuously 
from the start, with many departments running over time very often, 
and never a curtailment, but each year making additions to the number 
employed. 

The Worcester Corset Company, incorporated with a capital of $200,000, is 
the outcome of the business established in a small way in 1861 by David H. 
Fanning. This company manufactures the celebrated "Royal Worcester 
Corset." The present extensive factory on Wyman street was occupied in 
1897. David H. Fanning is President of the company, and Walter F. 
Brooks, Treasurer. A sketch of Mr. Fanning will be found in the Bio- 
graphical Department. 

William H. Burns Company. — Nearly every kind of manufacturing indus- 
try is to be found in this prosperous city of Worcester, and the William H. 
Burns Company stands at the head of its kind and is favorably known all 
of over this great country of ours. It manufactures ladies' muslin underwear 
of all descriptions, and its production is marvelous both in quantity and 
quality. 

This business was originally started in October, 1883, and the firm was 
then known as Baker & Burns, who commenced in a small way with about 
fifty machines. Unusual success attended this enterprise, and during the 
next year it became necessary to double their producing capacity to loa 
machines. Orders increased, and the territory covered by the sale of the 
goods extended almost daily. 

In 1884 Mr. Burns purchased his partner's interest and continued the 
business alone till 1888, when he admitted to partnership his brother-in-law, 
Harry S. Green. The factory was then located in the Clark building, on 
Front street, and as the trade increased it became necessary to find larger 
quarters. In view of this need the large block on Park street, at Salem 
square, was erected, and the company reserved for its own use all above the 
ground floor. It was five stories high, and well arranged for the great 
business in which they were engaged. 

The William H. Burns Company was incorporated in October, 1892, with 
a capital of $150,000. Since that time the business has continued to 
increase until it became necessary the present year to add another 
story to the building, making it now the largest factory of its kind in 
America. 

It is equipped with everything of the most approved type ; all the devices 
for facilitating work and promoting the comfort of the employees are pro- 



■516 



The Worcester of 1898. 




FACTORY OF WILLIAM H. BURNS COMPANY. 

vided. There are now in use S50 sewing-machines, besides button-hole 
making, button-stitching and double-needle machines. The work is divided 
into different departments, each under a competent head, thus insuring a 
systematic working of the whole factory. There are at the present time 
about 900 employed, and on the fifth floor rooms have been arranged for 
reading and taking lunch; a [jiano has alst) been provided for the recreation 
and pleasure of the operatives during the noon hour. 

Mr. Green withdrew from the corporation in 1895, and the officers of 
the company at this time are: William H. Burns, President, Treasurer 
and Manager; and R. W. Clarke, \"ice-President, Secretary and General 
Superintendent. 

Mr. Burns is a gentleman of energy and push, and the success of this 
firm is largely due to his indomitable perseverance and thorough business 
ability. Mr. Clarke entered the office of the concern in 1886 as office-boy, 
and by faithfulness and ability has been promoted to his present position. 
The business has grown to large proportions, and the industry is one of 
which the city may be proud. 

BOOTS AND SHOES. 



Heywood Boot & Shoe Company, 70 and 72 Winter street. The Inisi- 
ness of this concern was started o\'cr thirty years ago by Samuel R. 
Heywood, and the company was incorporated in 1884 with a capital of 
$100,000. S. R. Heywood is President; Frank E. Heywood, Vice-President 



The Worcester of li 



517 



and Treasurer; and Charles Case, Superintendent. The " Hey wood shoe" 
has long been known for its excellence; is sold throughout the United 
States, and exported in considerable quantity. This company makes 
special grades and patterns, notably the "Patrol" shoe and the "Bun- 
ion " shoe, which find a ready and increasing sale. The capacity of the 
establishment is 1,000 pairs a day, and the product is characterized by high 
grade and uniformity in quality. The factory is one of the largest and best 
appointed in the country, being equipped with the most modern and im- 
priived machinery, and all the appliances for the comfort and safety of the 
employees. The company has offices at 127 Duane street, New York, and. 
-'91 Devonshire street, Boston. 



r' 





|ii^_ 



'I"; 



^1 






flllBfiMM 



FACTORY OF HEYWOOD BOOT & SHOE COMPANY. 



The David Cummings Company, King street, occupies a factory built in- 
1880. Mr. Cummings, the founder, began business in Worcester in 1857 in 
partnership with William Hudson, who withdrew in 1862. Mr. Cummings- 
was absent from the city for a period, and reestablished the present 
business in 18S0 in company with E. H. Hurlbut and D. E. Spencer. 
F. W. Blacker, 112 Front street, is successor of J. H. & G. M. Walker in 
the business which was established by the present Congressman Walker in 
1862. !Mr. Blacker took the shop in 1888, and continued to manufacture 
the well-known "Walker boot," which had been a specialty of the establish- 
ment for so many years. The Bay State Shoe & Leather Company, High 
street, was established in 1864 by Bigelow & Trask, with headquarters in 
New York. The late Jonathan Munyan was for many years the local' 
agent. C. S. Goddard & Son, Oxford street, succeeded the firm of Goddard, 
Fay & Stone, who followed D. G. Rawson & Co. The business in the present- 



•5i8 



The Worcester of 1898. 



location dates back to iS66. J. E. Wesson, Asylum street, began business 
in 1868 on Mulberry street. Walker & Brown carry on the business under 
the firm name adopted in 1871, the partners then being Aaron G. Walker 
and vSamuel Brown. The shop was several years in Barton place, and now 
occupies a new building at 40 Thomas street. j\Ir. Brown and his son are 
now associated in the business. The E. H. Stark Company, of late years 
located on Park avenue, is now out of business. 

Other boot and shoe manufacturing firms are: G. L. Battelle, 560 Main 
street; Eureka Manufacturing Company, 40 Southbridge street; J. P. 
Grosvenor, Mechanic street; and Dean Brothers. Heels are manufactured 
by E. N. Dean, Front street; Drury Heel Company, and Shepard & 
Company. 




MISCELLANEOUS. 

Cereal Machine Company Located on lackson street and utilizing a 

floor space appro.ximating 85,000 scjuare feet, is the plant of the Cereal 
Machine Company. 

The purpose of this industry is the manufacture of what is known to 
every American household as the shredded whole-wheat biscuit. The plant 
is of special interest in that it is the only one of its kind in the world, 
and, furthermore, it is the only mechanical method extant by which the 
wheat kernel is converted into food for human consumption without the 
loss or slightest impairment of a single one of its numerous nutritive prop- 
•erties, each of which, in the economy of nature, is designed for the nour- 
ishment of some one of the elements composing the human structure. 

As the name of the factory's product indicates, the mechanical operation 
•of preparing the wheat for food is by shredding, and this in a manner that 



The Worcester of 1898. 519 

•does not crush nor destroy the filmiest fibre of the grain, but leaves all in 
such condition that neither yeast nor baking-powder, lard nor cream of 
tartar, nor any other foreign agency, is required to form the light and 
flaky shreds into bread or other form of human food. The various pro- 
cesses for the production of shredded whole-wheat biscuit which follow the 
shredding of the grain, are all calculated to still further serve the end of 
producing a food that the truths of science show is the nearest approach 
to perfection, as measured by the interpretations of nature's plans for the 
construction and maintenance of the human body that thought and skill 
have yet created. 

The president of the corporation is Henry D. Perky, who was also the 
inventor of shredded whole wheat and of the wheat-shredding machine, 
but important as are these inventions, it is as the originator of a plan for 
universal education as regards proper or natural foods that Mr. Perky has 
come to be the best known throughout the country. This plan had as its 
basis the truth as originally spoken by Mr. Perky, that naturally organized 
foods make possible natural conditions. His observations and investiga- 
tions of the food question and its relations to the physical, mental and 
spiritual man, led him to see that nature had prescribed certain plans and 
specifications whereby they were to be created and sustained. A following 
of these plans and specifications meant the perfect structure as a result, 
while their disregard was as equally certain to bring forth the inharmo- 
nious physical being. The strength and beauty of Mr. Perky's position 
lie in its adherence to the direct and positive teachings of nature. There 
is absolutely nothing of a chimerical nature about his propositions. They 
are every one backed up and sustained by the immutable laws of nature. 
Not finding these truths in the text-books of the schools and colleges of the 
land, he began the dissemination of knowledge concerning proper foods by 
spreading broadcast over the country publications of his own writing, and 
thus in addition to his position as the active head of one of Worcester's 
largest industrial enterprises, he is, as he has been for the past three years, 
one of the country's most active educators in special fields, and his success 
is of a measure at once brilliant and phenomenal. Acting upon the admo- 
nition, "Let every man first become himself that which he teaches others 
to be," he has practised as he has preached, and has become a living embodi- 
ment of what right living as regards the matter of foods will do for mankind. 
Recognizing the truth that is in nature that she suffers nothing to remain 
that does not help itself, he has worked zealously by pen and tongue to 
bring the people of the country to a realizing sense of this truth. The 
problem of the day with him is — how to nourish man so that his condition 
will be natural. He believes that the character of man, like the character 
of the fruit of the tree, in kind, corresponds to the character of the nourish- 
ment that made possible the growth. 

After three years of writing, teaching, and speaking, ]\Ir. Perky has the 
solid satisfaction of seeing the people of this country interested in the food 
question, considered from the standpoint of intelligence, to a degree never 
previously known. They are coming to know that nature has designated 




HENRY D. PERKY. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



521 



certain foods as perfect or natural (ines, and that man's attempt to improve 
upon these inevitably results in an unnatural, disorganized food, and that 
the eating of such results in unnatural and inharmonious bodies. 

In addition to the shredding-machine, Mr. Perky was the inventor of 
numerous machines and appliances used in the Jackson street plant, which 
produce, besides the shredded whole-wheat biscuit, wheat-shred drink, a 
wholesome and nourishing substitute for the injurious beverages which are 
in common use; granulated wheat-shred, a convenient article for dishes 
which require crumbing; and wheat-shred baby food, which he believes 
will work a revolution in the existing methods of child-feeding. He holds 
that much of the baby foods now on the market are of the same nature as 
pies, cakes and doughnuts, conditions which explain the presence in grown- 
up children of rickety bones, poor teeth, weak nerve and brain power, and 
otherwise defective bodies. 




FACTORY OF GRATON & KNIGHT MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 



Graton & Knight Manufacturing Company. — The manufacture of leather 
belting in Worcester had its origin in the card-clothing factory of the T. K. 
Earle Manufacturing Company, which establishment claims to have been 
started in 1786 by Pliny Earle of Leicester, Massachusetts. It is said that 
Mr. Earle first used calfskins in his works, but in time adopted cowhide, 
which was especially tanned for the purpose. Two lads not yet out of their 
teens, Henry C. Graton and Joseph A. Knight by name, both coming from 
Leicester, were engaged by the T. K. Earle Company to work in their 
factory, where they remained for ten years in the making and putting on 
of belts. In 1861 these gentlemen formed the partnership of Graton & 
Knight, and purchased the good-will and stock of the belting department 
of the T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company, which they located at 137 
Front street. These early days were attended with many vicissitudes, but 



522 The Worcester of 1898. 

ihnuigh pluck and industry, together with a meritorious product, success 
was assured. 

In February-, 1869, Walter M. Spaulding of Worcester was engaged as 
bookkeeper in this growing establishment. 

In 1866 the first tannery of brick was erected upon land comprising 
nearly two acres belonging to the company, upon the Bloomingdale road, 
near the Boston & Albany railroad station. The following year it became 
necessary to erect a second and larger building adjoining. 

In 1872, the business having assumed large proportions, the partnership 
was merged into a corporation, with a capital stock of $100,000, and 
Joseph A. Knight, President; Henry C. Graton, Treasurer; and Walter M. 
Spaulding, Secretary, who still remain its officers. The capital stock has 
been several times increased, till it is now $700,000. 

In 1880 another large frame building was erected upon the Bloomingdale 
road, and in 1893 a five-story brick structure, nearly 300 feet long, was 
built. This last building has been thoroughly equipped with machinery 
and facilities of the latest and most approved designs, and upon its com- 
pletion the belt factory was removed into it ; but the general office of the 
company is still retained at 137 Front street. 

With the installation of improved machinery throughout, an isolated 
electric light plant, automatic sprinklers, a spur track from the Boston 
& Albany railroad upon its premises, and a general orderly arrangement, 
it can be truly said that this establishment is modern in every respect. 
Especially can this be said of the tannery (in fact two tanneries), which 
has a capacity for the tanning of over 100,000 hides annually, which come 
from cattle grown upon western prairies and which would require the use of 
about 15,000 cords of bark. The large quantity of bark this company uses 
is obtained from the chestnut oak tree, which grows abundantly upon the 
slopes of the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains in Pennsylvania, Virginia 
and Tennessee, thus giving an output of leather of firm texture and supi)le- 
ness especially adapted for the severe work required of belting. 

All widths, plies or weight of leather belting are made by this company, 
from that needed for the jeweler's lathe to those recpiired upon the ponder- 
ous dynamos of the electric light and power houses. 

By a system of branch stores with large stocks of belting throughout the 
United States, a large corps of traveling salesmen and an extensive corre- 
spondence, the belts of the Graton & Knight Manufacturing Comiiany are 
sent to all of the industrial marts of the world. 

Incidental to the belt business are the departments for the manufac- 
ture of leather specialties, which jiroducts are obtained from the sur|)lus 
cuttings of the hide, after the centre has been removed for belting 
purposes. 

In one of these departments, styled the Worcester Counter Company, 
from 150 to 200 persons are employed in the busy season in making and 
supplying to the boot and shoe manufacturers of the country all grades of 
counters, insoles, rands, etc., w-hich enter into the construction of the boot 
and shoe. 



The Worcester of 1S98. 



523 



A large amount of strapping for mill 
and general work is also sent out each year. 

Growth, as the scientist has well said, 
is associated with life, and is in correct 
correspondence with environment. It will 
thus be seen, in review, that the Graton 
& Knight Manufacturing Company, from 
small beginnings, has grown into a promi- 
nence which augurs well for its future life 
and prosperity. 

Worcester Boiler Works The industry 

from which these are the outgrowth was 
the first of its kind in Worcester, hav- 
ing been started in 1S47, but the works 





ILLIAM ALLEN. 



have been at their present location. Green, 
Washington and Plymouth streets, only 
since 1883. The business was compara- 
tively insignificant when the firm of Wil- 
liam Allen & Sons was formed and took 
possession of it in 1875, but under their 
management it has become one of the 
largest in its line in New England. Spur 
tracks connecting with all of the rail- 
roads which enter Worcester extend into 
the premises, and on the latter are the 



foundry, boiler-shops and machine-shops, 
covering one and one-half acres of ground. 
The firm also occupies a tract of several 
acres on Shrewsbury street, directly on 
the line of the Boston & Albany Railroad, 
which it uses for storage. 

About 150 people are employed, and the 
products are high-grade steam-boilers of 
every description, including horizontal 
tubular, vertical. Manning uprights, loco- 
motive and marine boilers ; and every 
form of steam machinery, such as feed- 
water heaters, steam-boxes, rubber devul- 
canizers; also specialties, the Allen patent 
bleaching kiers, and the Allen patent 




5^4 



The Worcester of 1898. 



dvewood extractors. They also build a great many ■ivater-wheel cases, 
penstocks, oil and water tanks, iron stacks or chimneys, and plate and 
sheet-iron work of all descriptions. They also do a large business in the 
sale of the Allen patent heating boiler, which is largely used for heating, 
business blocks, churches and residences throughout this section of the 
country. In building this work it is necessary to operate a machine-shop 
and foundry, so that in their productions every part is made on the plant 
and under the direct supervision of the firm. In their foundry department 
they make a large output in iron and brass castings, the fine grade turned 
out leading to sales throughout New England. 

The firm members are William Allen and his sons, George L. Allen and 
William P. Allen, all of whom are ingenious and practical in all the depart- 
ments of the business, a fact which will account very much for their success. 




BOILER WORKS OF WILLIAM ALLEN & SONS. 

Wyman & Gordon. — This firm was founded in 1883, and its business was 
established at the present location on Bradley street. Its operations were 
begun in a small way, but the business volume has steadily increased, even 
through the dull times there being no cessation in its growth, until now 
about 100 high-grade workmen are employed. 

Drop-forgings of iron, steel or any of the metals are made in all sizes, 
large or small, and the range of the firm's work is probably greater than 
that of any other factory. Some of the most powerful machinery in the 
country, excejjfing that used at the Carnegie works, is employed, and jiarts 
of about everything in iron and other metal work are produced. 

The territory covered by the firm extends to all parts of the world, as in 
recent times a great deal of work for export is done. 

The firm's members are H. W. Wyman and L. F. Gordon. Both are 
natives of Worcester and are graduates of the Worcester Polytechnic Insti- 
tute, the former in the class of '82 and the latter in the class of '81. 

The Lunch Wagon. — This seems to be one of the growing necessities of 
this age. It is used in all parts of the country and can be found in every 
city and large village. The niannfacture of these street cafes is a leading 



The Worcester of 1898. 



525 




THOMAS H. BUCKLEY. 



industry in Worcester. The business was 
started in 1889 by Mr. Thomas H. Buckley, 
who continued it till 1897, when "The T. 
H. Buckley Lunch Wagon Manufacturing 
& Catering Company " was formed and 
incorporated with a capital of $50,000. 
Mr. Buckley is the president and treas- 
urer, and John T. Flanagan, secretary. 

The company is making the finest wagon 
on the market: it is called the "White 
House," and is covered by letters-patent, 
issued in 1893 and 1894. These wagons 
are perfect little palaces, and admired by 
all who see them. Mr. Buckley has been 
very successful in this line of work, and 
at the time of the World's Fair his $5,000 
tile wagon was on exhibition and took the 
first prize. It has been shown at many 

state and county fairs, and 140 different prizes and premiums have been 
awarded it. The wagons built by this company are designed by Mr. Buck- 
ley, and are noted for their lightness, beauty and excellence. 

The plant of the company is located at 281 Grafton street, and consists 
of four buildings, all connected, covering about one-half of the lot, which 
is 15,000 square feet and owned by the company. The shop is equipped 
with improved machinery, and twenty-seven skilled workmen are furnished 
employment. They have facilities for turning out .seven complete wagons 
per month, and the sales reach all parts of this country and Canada. 

Mr. Buckley was born in New London, Connecticut, October 21, 1868, 
and has resided in Worcester since 1878. 

He is a gentleman of ability and skill, and in social life is considered a 
"good fellow." He is a member of the Waterbury Lodge of Elks, and is 
also president of the L^nited States Lunch Wagon Company, which operates 
and controls the night lunch wagon business in twenty-five dift'erent cities 
in this country. 

In 1887 he was married to Miss Alice ]M. Legg, and they have one 
child. 

Braman, Dow & Company. — The business life of this house covers a half 
century, it having been established in Boston in 1848, the year of Worces- 
ter's incorporation as a city. Its founder was Oliver S. Barrett, but he and 
his successors, Messrs. Braman and Dow, from whom the present name is 
derived, have joined the silent majority. 

The present proprietors are Henry O. Barrett, Harry W. Barrett. William 
B. Smith and Frank M. Sheldon, the Messrs. Barrett being son and grand- 
son of the founder. The Boston house, which has just moved into new and 
enlarged quarters on Causeway street, is one of the two largest in New 
England dealing at wholesale and retail in gas, steam and water fitters' 
supplies, and is one of the best known houses in the East. 



526 



The Worcester of 1898. 



The Worcester branch of Braman, Dow Sz Company was established some 
thirty years ago on Pearl street, later being moved to Hall's block, where 
it remained until twelve years ago, when the present location in Washing- 
ton square was secured. The Worcester house is the largest in its line in 
New England outside of Boston. Like the parent house, it deals at whole- 
sale and retail in gas, steam and water supplies, and its operations cover 
all kinds of mill and factory work and heating apparatus. 

In the busier seasons some thirty men, the most of them skilled, are 
employed, and in addition to Worcester and surrounding territory, its 
operations extend into New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

The manager of the Worcester house is Mr. James G. Alexander, a 
practical man of many years' experience. He came here from Boston nine- 
teen years ago; all of this time he has been connected with the Worcester 
establishment, and for the last six years has ably managed its business. 

Worcester Steam Heating Company The manufacture of the Pentecost 

steam generator was begun in 1883 by the Pentecost Steam Generating 
Company. A year later the business was purchased by Mr. Benjamin 
Brierly, and was conducted by him alone virtually all of the time until June 
3, 1892, when the Worcester Steam Heating Company was organized with 
a capital of $30,000, and has since successfully continued it. 

Mr. Brierly has been president of this company since it was organized, 
and was also its treasurer until 1897, when his son, Mr. Walter E. Brierly, 
became treasurer. 

Originally the works were on the site of the present post office, but when 
that plot became government property, the company purchased and com- 
pleted a new brick building on Gold street, and to it transferred its 
plant. There it has a twenty horse-power engine and all of the equipment 
necessary for the successful manufacture of the Pentecost generator and 
other makes of pipe boilers for heating. The business of the company is 

not only the manufacture of generators 
and boilers, but the selling and installing 
of steam-heating plants, and in this they 
have done a large amount all over New 
England and in some of the Middle States, 
and have also done considerable work in 
Chicago. 

The Messrs. Brierly came from a family 
of steam-workers, and are thoroughly 
practical men. Mr. Benjamin Brierly was 
born in England, but came to this country 
wlien young. He came to Worcester in 
1884, but for forty years previous had 
lived in Millbury, and all of the time 
had been engaged in mill work. 

Baker Lead Company. — This company 
was incorporated under the laws of the 
State of Massachusetts about three vears 





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BENJAMIN BRIERLY. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



527 




PETER BAKER. 



ago. The industry is the outgrowth of a 

plumbing business founded by Mr. Peter 

Baker nearly fifteen years ago. 

'Mr. Baker was born in Baltimore, but 

his parents moved North when he was but 

an infant, and the first eighteen years of 

his life were spent in Hatfield in this 

State. He learned and worked at his 

trade, plumbing, in Springfield and Hol- 

yoke until about sixteen years ago, when 

he came to Worcester, and after a year 

or so in the employ of others he engaged 

in business on his own account. 

The making of lead pipe was begun in 

1S91 in the Walker building on Water 

street, and the next year the works were 

moved to their present location. His was 

the first establishment in the State, out- 
side of Boston, to make lead pipe, and it is yet the only one of consequence 

outside of that city. 

Lead is received in pigs direct from the mines; every part of the work is 

done on the premises, and as finished pipe on leaving the works it is ready 

for use. The making of lead traps was a later departure, and patents on 

several of the makes of traps are owned by Mr. Baker. Aside from its 

manufacturing the company deals at wholesale in plumbers' supplies and 

sanitary fittings of all kinds. 

The business has had a healthy growth, and the products are in use all 

over the Union. The company's traps are sold in many countries, and a 

large trade has been established in England, Ireland and New South Wales. 
The stock of the Baker Lead Company is capitalized at $35,000, and Mr. 

Baker is president, treasurer and general manager. 

James H. Whittle In 1880 

Mr. James H. Whittle, a 
native of Pawtucket, Rhode 
Island, first started in busi- 
ness in Putnam, Connecti- 
cut. In (;)ctober of the fol- 
lowing year he brought his 
business to Worcester, and 
in 1 893 he erected his present 
brick factory building on 
Harlow street. This latter 
covers ground space of about 
135 by 85 feet, and is equip- 
ped with a thirty-five horse- 
power engine. 
The products of the Whit- 




FACTORY OF JAMES H. WHITTLE. 



528 



The Worcester of 1898. 



tie factory are tin cylinders, cotton-cans, slasher-cyclinders, patent bar card 
screens and shieet-metal mill specialties. They are supplied to cotton and 
woolen machinery manufacturers and to the mills throughout the Union, 
the sheet-metal work for nearly all of the new mills in the South being 
frt)m this factory. 

Musical Instruments. — The Brown & Simpson Piano Company, May 
street; the Mason &• Risch Vocalion Company, the Taber Organ Company 
and the Loring & Blake Organ Company, all on Union street, and the Guild 
Piano Company, Chandler street, are large concerns manufacturing musical 
instruments in Worcester. C. G. Conn Manufacturing Company, Mechanic 
street, makes band instruments. The manufacture c}f urgan reeds has been 




FACTORY OF HAMMOND REED COMPANY. 

carried on in the city for many years. The Hammond C)rgan Reed Com- 
pany is now the only concern in Worcester, and the factory on May street 
is probably the largest in the world, in fact only two other factories are in 
operation, both located in Chicago; and these with the Hammond factory 
practically supply the demand of the whole world. 



WORCESTER CONTRACTORS. 



Worcester has gained much celebrity during the last quarter of a century 
from the fact that it has been the headquarters of several of the largest and 
most widely known building and contracting firms in this country. Of 
these, Norcross Brothers has been, and is, the most prominent, and the list 
of between seventy and eighty large and costly i)ublic buildings erected by 



The Worcester of 1898. 529 

this firm in different sections of the United States, which is given in another 
part of this volume,* is an unparalleled and noteworthy one. 

The Webb Granite & Construction Company* owns extensive quarries, and 
carries on business on a large and increasing scale. The origin of this com- 
pany goes back to 1873, and between 500 and 600 men are employed. 

Other large concerns are J. W. Bishop & Company, and Cutting, Bardwell 
& Company. 

The Worcester Construction Company is extensively engaged in building 
electric railway systems throughout the country. 

There are many other reliable concerns that carry on business on a scale 
of more or less magnitude. 



CONCLUSION. 

Diversity of interests and variety in manufactured products largely 
account for Worcester's prosperity.. In no other city in the -country are 
so many different articles and kinds made and sent out, and probably it has 
not a parallel in this respect in the whole world. It was at one time claimed 
that more patents had been granted to Worcester county inventors than to 
those of any other county in the United States. It can be said that some 
of the most important inventions and improvements in use originated in 
this vicinity. The most valuable one in all its results is undoubtedly the 
eccentric lathe of Thomas Blanchard. This, with the typewriter of Charles 
Thurber and the calliope of J. C. Stoddard and the McTammany voting- 
machine, shows the verge of usefulness and novelty, and from these the 
scale runs down through an almost inconceivable number and variety of 
useful and curious innovations to a world of small notions. 

The larger and more important branches of manufacture have already 
been noticed in this chapter under appropriate headings. Nothing like a 
complete list can be given in these limits, but some idea of the variety of 
products can be had from those mentioned below : 

Artists' plates, awls and machine-needles, belting, bicycles, blacking, 
bolts, boats, brass work, band-instruments, billiard-tables, brick, beer, 
brooms, brushes, carriages, chemicals, confectionery, cutlery, castings, 
cigars, coffins and hearses, dies, doors, blinds and sash, drain-pipes, 
drills, drop-forging, emery-wheels, elevators, eaves-troughs, files, fishing- 
rods, furniture, leather goods, malleable iron, marble and stone work, mat- 
tresses, moulding, patent medicines, plating, pottery, presses, railroad-cars, 
refrigerators, saws, skates, soap, stained glass, steam-boilers, steam-engines, 
tacks and nails, trunks, tools, turbine wheels, photographic supplies, blank- 
books, valentines, wheels, pumps, razors and razor-strops, shafting, vises. 

*See sketches of O. W. Norcros.s and George D. Webb in Biographical Department. 




HANNIBAL HAMLIN HOUGHTON. 



REMINISCENCES. 

Bv Haxxibal Hamlix Houghtox. 

Oxford county in Elaine has always had the reputation of being the 
banner county "f the state for bears, so much so that to be a resident or 
voter of that county was to be called an "Oxford bear." On Paris Hill, one 
of the villages in the town of Paris, were located the county buildings and 
the other necessary conveniences for court business — the taverns, country 
stores, lawyers' offices, etc. At the time of which I am writing, 1826 and 
1827, in the office of Judge Emery was a young man reading law by the 
name of Hannibal Hamlin, afterwards known to the country as long-time 
senator and vice-president with Lincoln. In the village at the north part 
of the town, called the Harbor, lived a man by the name of Richard W. 
Houghton, between whom and one of his neighbors some trouble existed, 
and the said Houghton became defendant in a suit. He placed his case 
with his friend Hamlin, who won in the trial. Soon after this event there 
was an arrival in the north village — an Oxford county cub — and the result 
of the lawsuit was so satisfactory that he was given the name of Hannibal 
Hamlin Houghton, and it is of him that these lines are written. Fast dav, 
April 5, 1827, was the day, and this new arrival was celebrated b\- the 
married men of the village having a game of ball. 

As I was nearing my fourth birthday, our family moved to Steep Falls in 
Norway, the adjoining town on the west, and very soon after becoming 
settled there I can well remember my father taking me by the hand, while 
in his other hand he carried a pick and shovel, and telling me that he was 
going to the Falls to prepare for the building of a gun factory; a short 
walk brought us to the location. He dug a small ditch on the upper side of 
the lot he wanted to clear, let on the water from the river, and soon the 
ledge was washed clean, and was ready for the heavy foundation stone. It 
was this building when occupied that held stronger attractions for me than 
any school, and I recollect that often in school hours my mind was at the 
factory following the workmen in the manufacture of firearms. As the son 
of the proprietor, I was allowed many liberties, and before I had reached the 
age of fifteen I had made a gun complete from start to finish, even to the 
engraving of name on the barrel and hunting scenery on the mountings. 
To these early privileges, in the factory in the dear old town of Norway, my 
future life was much indebted. 

The first article of value that I remember to have made was a busk for a 
favorite aunt. For a description of this article see one of the letters of 



532 The Worcester of i8g8. 

Senator Hoar — "The Bo3's of Sixty Years Ago" — iirinted in tlie \'oiil/i's 
Companion of this year (iSq.S). 

In the (lays of which 1 write the fall hunt was a great event. Two 
leaders were chosen, these men taking turns in filling their ranks. The 
first selection was always Dick Houghton ; to whichever side he belonged, 
that side was sure of a supper at the hotel at the expense of the other side. 
At those times my cup was full if permitted to go with my father to gather 
in the game and take it to the wagon. All game, from a rabbit to a bear, 
had its value. Father generally hunted with a rifle, and his advice to me 
was to punch out the eye, for to shoot at the body spoiled the meat for 
food. I never could get over the habit of shutting my eyes as I pulled the 
trigger. He was always successful, and so expert as a marksman that some 
of his feats seem marvelous. I remember that once he cut the strings of 
the handbag which my aunt, who was coming some distance down the lane, 
was carrying, letting the bag fall to the ground, much to the dismay of that 
lady. 

Soon after settling in Norway, one hot day I wandered into a grove of 
small pine trees not far from our house, and soon came upon the rear part 
of a large, black animal. With the reputation of the county in mind, I 
turned and hastened home with great speed, and told my father to get his 
gun, I had found a bear. He asked for a description, and I told him that 
it was very large, and had a long tail that reached to the ground. He 
smiled, kept on with his work, and informed me that all tails were not 
alike. 

Norway remained my home until it was exchanged for this town and 
city, although when some sixteen years of age I worked in Boston on the 
iron sash, doors and shutters of the then new Custom House, the contract 
for which was given to Charles W. Cummings on Cambridge street, he 
having just completed the present iron fence arotmd Boston Common. 
From Boston I returned to Norway, and, becoming uneasy, prevailed upon 
my father to sell me my time, a little 'more than two years, for which I paid 
him in gold on my twenty-first birthday $220 as per agreement, which was 
drawn up in a legal form, signed and sealed, and which contained a clause 
that if I entered a theatre in the meantime, its conditions so far as my 
father was bound were to be null and void. 

Being now a free man, I found myself on the iith day of January, 
1846, in the town of Worcester, which then contained .S,ooo inhabitants. 
After considerable vain effort to obtain employment, I was, through the 
intercession of a friend, taken on trial by Mr. I. S. Chapman, who had a 
shop in the old Court Mills. My employer, finding the first day that I 
could easily attend to three lathes while the other men would manage only 
one each, fixed my wages at .|i.i6 2-3 per day for two months, $1.25 from 
then to Ai)ril rst. At this time the machinery and tools were purchased by 
A. & S. Thayer, when Mr. Chapman retired on account of ill health, and 
bought a shoe-store on Main street. 1 worked for the Thayers several 
years, most of the time on new inventions, for which my early life had 
especially fitted me. My ne.xi change was to the factory of Goddard, Rice 



The Worcester of if 



533 



& Company, for whom I was to take a crude affair for a sewing-machine, 
perfect the same, and get it ready for the market. A long editorial in the 
Worcester Daily Spy oi Monday, June 9. 1851, entitled "Worcester in its 
Shirtsleeves," will tell you the result. I invented the " rough-surface feed " 
for the sewing-machine, which, as much as anything, made it practical, and 
for the completed machine I received a silver medal from the Worcester 
County Mechanics Association in the fall of 185 i. Just as it was perfected, 
Elias Howe, the reputed inventor of the, needle with an eye in the point, 
came down upon the Worcester manufacturers with a demand for !j;2o,ooo 
and a threat of a suit for damages, and drove them from the field. About 
a year later Singer successfully applied the "rough-surface feed," ignoring 
my invention, and, defying Howe, made a fortune. 

About this time a young physician, whose shingle was hanging in Main 
street, in some manner found his way into our shop. While fully qualified 
to deal out pills and powders, his mind was running in an entirely different 
direction — with a purpose to produce machinery for doing in a methodical 
way work which was then done by hand. This was Dr. Russell L. Hawes, 
whose inventive genius is yet manifest in one of the great industries of 
Worcester. It was Dr. Hawes who passed over to me the sewing-machine, 
which I perfected as above stated. Then came the wonderful machine for 
making envelopes, which I successfully worked out from the doctor's ideas 
in the room on the fourth floor of the shop of Goddard, Rice & Company 
on Union street, opposite the present new Fire Department headquarters. 
At this time envelopes, if used at all, were made by hand, and were not kept 
for sale with other stationery. One of the great difficulties to overcome in 
the working of the machine was the tendency to pick up more than one 
sheet of paper at a time and carry two or more into the part which did the 
folding. This we obviated so that only one sheet was taken up, even if the 
paper was the thinnest-like tissue paper. In course of time the machine 
was made to do the work, and the demand became so great that another 
room was partitioned off on this floor, other machines were made, and these 
furnished for a long time the only machine-made envelopes in the world. 
These were shipped to New York and other places in such large quantities 
that the attention of capitalists was attracted, and they determined to learn 
the secret of the invention. Everything had been carefully guarded under 
lock and key, but one of our men whom we trusted proved a traitor, made 
drawings of such parts of the machines as were essential, and soon from 
these, other machines were made in Connecticut and put in operation under 
his direction. Dr. Hawes, after this, invented a machine, which I con- 
structed, for making paper bags for grocers' use — not the basket-bottom 
ones we now see, but the flat-folded ones formerly used. 

Sometime after this experience Mr. Sewall Thayer, of the firm of A. & S. 
Thayer, was obliged to retire on account of ill health, and his interest was 
offered to Mr. E. C. Cleveland and myself under an arrangement with his 
brother, Alexander Thayer, by which we were to own equal shares in the 
business. I had at this time no ready means, having assisted some mem- 
bers of my father's family, and I was about to decline the offer when a 



534 The Worcester of 1898. 

friend, the late Isaac L. Wadleigh, then an engineer on the western rail- 
road, running an engine between Worcester and Springfield, offered me the 
money needed, which he had in the bank in Springfield. He urged me to 
purchase the interest in the business, and with his kind assistance I did so, 
and thus was born the new firm of Thayer, Houghton & Company, manu- 
facturers of machinists' tools. The success of this companv was all that 
could be desired, until the 14th day of June, 1S54, at noon, when an alarm 
of fire was sounded, which terminated in bringing to ashes the largest 
amount of property ever burned at one time in this city. This has always 
been known as the Merrifield fire, the buildings owned by the late William 
T. Merrifield, and others adjacent being destroyed. Our loss was over 
$25,000; and yet while the fire was burning, this firm secured new quar- 
ters, and while the ashes were yet hot, located themselves, purchased new 
machinery, and began anew. 

While watching the flames do their work, a hand was laid u].)on my 
shoulder, and these words came from our dear old pastor, Reverend Doctor 
Alonzo Hill of the First Unitarian Church : " My young friend, this is a sad, 
a very sad sight, the taking from you of this large property so suddenly. 
You may not now, but the time, I am certain, will come when you will look 
back to this as a blessing." 

Looking up soon after, I saw my friend Wadleigh approaching with a 
troubled countenance. He had left his engine at the Junction stationed in 
care of his fireman, and hastened to the fire. Thinking that he was in fear 
of the loss of his money which he had loaned me, I began to reassure him, 
but I found that his anxiety was for me alone, and that he had come to 
offer me more money to reestablish myself. This I did not need, as we 
obtained all that was required in another quarter. I mention this episode 
in justice to the memory of one who was always a firm friend, and whose 
action was in contrast to the terrible selfishness so often manifested in 
human experience. Years afterwards, when the principal and interest of 
this debt had long been paid, I was enabled to return in some measure the 
kindness of this friend at a time when misfortune had overtaken him. 

Financial help was asked of the late Honorable Stephen Salisbury, father 
of the present Mr. Sali.sbury, and readily granted, for which we were ever 
grateful, and we were soon prepared for business. 

The firm, reestablished, continued to pro.sper until the hard times of 1857, 
since when, in comparison with the real financial stringency and actual dis- 
tress, we have had nothing which can be compared, although it is commonly 
asserted at every crisis that the present is the worst. In 1857 there was 
no reliable or uniform system of currency, the bills being issued by State 
banks, many of them worthless, and so many counterfeits were put in circu- 
lation that a weekly detective publication was required. Western bills were 
practically worthless in the East, and exchange was at so high a premium 
that in order to get our pay from a railroad company in Indiana, we were 
obliged to effect an arrangement through a relative to have all the eastern 
bills and gold taken at the railroad station there .saved for us until the 
necessary amount was secured, which was shipped to us by express. Money 



The Worcester of 1898. 535 

was extremely scarce, and we could obtain little to pay off the help. For- 
bush & Crompton, loom manufacturers, were obliged to take cloth from the 
woolen manufacturers to pay for repairs on looms. They paid us in cloth 
for repairs to machinery and tools we made for them. We paid in part our 
workmen who needed clothing with this material. We held the note of a 
f^ouring-mill owner in-western New York for several hundred dollars. After 
much effort we found a grocery firm that would take flour and allow us to 
give orders for groceries to relieve our workmen. Such were the common 
e.vpedients resorted to by all business men in these really hard times. 

At this time Mr. Cleveland left the firm, the name continuing the same. 
A struggle for a few years brings us to the firing uiion Fort Sumter. With 
our hundred or more men, we could not liegin to satisfy the calls that came 
to us and other manufacturers of machinists' tools for new and improved 
machinery for the making of muskets, etc. This was followed by a national 
currency nearly equal to gold, which paid us in part fi.ir the great waste of 
human life and treasure in the war. 

In passing from this subject I want to speak a word in favor of some of 
those men in our employ who were always loyal to us, and many of whom 
were on the road to high honors. A few I will name: Lieutenant-Governor 
Benchley, Judge McCafferty and e.x-^Mayor vSamuel E. Hildreth, all now 
deceased; and of the living, ex-State Senator E. T. Marble and Osgood 
Plummer. To this latter gentleman the citizens of Worcester are largely 
indebted — more, I think, than to any other man — for the elegant city 
building on its ideal location, which is now the pride of all our people. 

In war time, with health impaired, we disposed of our business to the 
Stover ^Machine Company, later the New York Steam Engine Company, 
and retired from the manufacture of machinists' tools. 

About the time I retired from business, I was in the office of George 
Crompton, one of the most successful manufacturers of machinery, invent- 
ors and enterprising men of business ever known in Worcester. We had 
furnished his new establishment with many thousands of dollars' worth of 
improved machinery. He asked me if I remembered the first time I ever 
met him. I answered, "No." He said: "I shall never forget it. We were 
a new firm just commencing. That day I had been refused credit for half a 
dozen files costing $i.37>^ by one of the leading hardware concerns of our 
city. We wanted a small lathe such as you were making, the cost of which 
was about $60. I mustered up courage to enter your office, introduced 
myself, and asked you if you would let us have the lathe and wait for pay 
until the next quarter. Your reply was a pleasant yes." 

x\ few years ago George Crompton died. The writer and two friends 
were appointed to appraise his estate, which amounted to between one and 
two millions, at a low estimate. His check for a large amount would have 
been honored in London, Paris, Philadelphia, Boston and Worcester, in 
which cities he kept balances. This was the man who could not get credit 
for two dollars in Worcester in 1853. 

One of the results of the war was the issue of large quantities of govern- 
ment bonds. A place was needed in Worcester for their safe keeping. A 



536 The v\'orcester of 1898. 

State charter was obtained for a safe deposit company, and the writer was 
asked to take a book and see if the stock was wanted. I visited such per- 
sons as I thought might be inclined to aid me, having great confidence 
myself in the enterprise. Considerable stock was subscribed for, but after 
a short time it appeared that the undertaking was being discredited by 
certain ones, and some (>f the subscribers began to be frightened and 
begged me to take back their stock. I did this in a number of cases. 
It was asserted that the plan was a scheme to make places and draw 
salaries for a certain few. Some of the backsliders were men of wealth, 
who worried over the prospective loss of a few hundred dollars. To relieve 
these men I found myself responsible for a large amount of stock. Meeting 
Mr. (afterwards mayor) Edward L. Davis I stated the case to him, and said 
that he ought to take as much stock as I held, and he promptly did so. The 
record of the Worcester Safe Deposit & Trust Company through all these 
years is one of which any corporation may well be proud. 

Political office I have always shunned. I served four years in the Board of 
Aldermen under that great engineer and gentleman, Mayor James B. Blake, 
in i866-'69 inclusive. This satisfied me. Other offices I have tried to 
honor. For many years I was one of the directors of the Worcester Safe 
Deposit & Trust Company, of the Protective Union, and of the Worcester 
County Mechanics Association. 

I have done something at building up the city, and I have tried to do it 
creditably. My last and favorite, the apartment house the "Evans," 845 
Main street, I am willing to leave as my monument. For more than twenty 
years I have hoped to live until I could see a new City Hall; that wish is 
now gratified, for its dedication was on the 28th of April, and I had the 
honor and pleasure of marching to the same with the voters of 1848, nearly 
a hundred in number, each seventy-one years of age and over. 

In looking back and taking into account all the losses and disappoint- 
ments of life, they are as nothing to what we now enjoy: a contented mind, 
in a happy home, the loving and kindly faces ever with and about us, and 
the pleasant welcome from all we meet. 

[Mr. Houghton died September 21, 1898.] 



BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT. 



Daniel W. Abercrombie was born November 25, 1S53, on his father's 
■estate, BolHng Green, Alacon county, Alabama. At the close of the Civil 
War his family removed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was fitted 
for Harvard College, from which he was graduated in the class of 1876. His 
jHirpose throughout his college course had been to prepare himself to enter 
the profession of law, and so after graduation he began the necessary 
studies at the Harvard Law School. These he pursued until January, 1877, 
when he accepted the classical mastership at St. Mark's vSc.hool, South- 
borough, and gave up his legal course for a time to devote himself to the 
study of boys, not juries. 

As a teacher he proved to be remarkably successful from the start. That 
keenness of scholarship and that decision and forcefulness of character 
which have been such conspicuous traits in the man ever since, at once 
displayed themselves and won for him the respect and cooperation of his 
pupils. So marked was his success, and so attractive became the teacher's 
opportunities to inspire and lead boys to higher aims and nobler purposes, 
that in the mind of the young man the ambition to be of the greatest possi- 
ble service to his fellow men outweighed the chances for wealth and 
■distinction that lay before him in the legal profession. 

From St. Mark's he went to a similar position in Vermont Academy. 
Here he remained four years. To one to whom so soon was to come the 
opportunity to develop the ideal American school, no better preparation 
could have been vouchsafed than this two-fold experience at St. Mark's and 
at Vermont Academy; for one represented the Americanized form of the 
great English public school, and the other the modernized form of the old 
colonial school. 

Dr. Abercrombie came to Worcester Academy in the winter of 1882, when 
the school was at a low ebb. Soon after, upon the death of the principal, 
he was made at first acting principal, and in June, 1883, he was elected 
principal. From this time dates the movement which has placed Worcester 
Academy in the front rank of secondary schools. The story of this period 
of the school's history might well form a chapter in the history of secondary 
school education in this country. It has been briefly sketched in the article 
elsewhere in this volume upon the academy. 

Principal Abercrombie's success has been fitly recognized by higher insti- 
tutions in the conferring upon him of the honorary degrees of A. M. by 
Brown University in 1S83, and of LL. D. by Colby College in 1898. 




JAMES S. ABORN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 539* 

James Smith Aborn was born in Providence, Rhode Island, forty-one years 
aii". His ancestors went from vSalem, Massachusetts, to Pawtiixet, Rhode 
Island, in 1636. He is the eighth generation of the Aborn family born in 
Rhode Island, and on the maternal side is descended from Roger Williams. 

Though a civil engineer by profession, Mr. Aborn was engaged in manu- 
facturing and mercantile pursuits much of the time preceding his coming 
here: first, in the manufacture of asphalt block-paving; later, as partner in 
the Providence Coal Company, wholesale coal dealers, and immediately 
i)efore coming to Worcester had an interest in and was managing partner 
of the Reliance Milling Company, shippers of grain and millers of table 
meals. 

He came to Worcester five years ago, in 1893, and on Front street opened 
a grain brokerage business for a Chicago house. January i, 1S95, he moved 
to his present location, 410 Main street, and the scope of his business has 
since been vastly extended. He has direct wires to New York and Chicago, 
and handles all of the stocks, bonds and investment securities that are dealt 
in on the exchanges of those cities besides those of local corporations, doing 
strictly a commission brokerage business. 

Mr. Aborn has had a life-long fondness for athletics, and a pronounced 
one for aquatic sports. In Providence he has been for twenty years a 
member of the Narragansett Boat Club, is also a member of the Providence 
Athletic Club, and served for a number of years upon the Executive Com- 
mittees of both the National Association and New England Association of 
Amateur Oarsmen. He is a member of the Lakeside Boat Club of Worces- 
ter, and an honorary member of the Wachusett Boat Club; is heartily 
interested in having the Quinsigamond International Regatta become an 
annual fixture, and nobody is working harder to make it such. He is one 
of the governors of the regatta, and this year is chairman of the Committee 
of Management. 

Mr. Aborn is a 32° Mason, and a member of the Commonwealth and 
Hancock Clubs of this city, and in Rhode Island he is on the Directory 
lioard of the Providence Lving-in Hospital. 

George Ira Alden is a native of Templeton, ^Massachusetts, having been 
horn in that town April 22, 1S43. His early education was obtained at the 
district and high schools in his native town. He then learned a trade and 
for some years worked in the shop, improving his spare time in study, thus 
fitting himself for the Lawrence Scientific School at Cambridge, from which 
he was graduated in the class of '68. 

For several months after his graduation he acted as assistant to Professor 
Winlock at the Harvard College observatory. He came to this city in 1869 
to become a teacher in the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial 
Science, now familiarly known as the "Worcester 'Tech," and was thus 
identified with that institution from its beginning. For twenty-seven years 
he was at the head of the mechanical engineering department, and to his 
skill and inventive genius the school is indebted for much of the admirable 
equipment of this department. He made the plans for building and equip- 
ping the engineering, power and hvdraulic laboratories which were built by 



540 



The Worcester of 1898. 




the institute in 1895. He was twice 
made acting principal of the institute, and 
had an active and leading part in the first 
quarter century of its history. During 
the year 1889 Mr. Aldan spent several 
months in Europe, visiting the Paris Ex- 
position, and also many of the technical 
and other schools in England and Ger- 
many. In 1 89 1 he received the degree 
of Master of Mechanical Engineering from 
Cornell University. 

Professor Alden severed his connection 
with the Polytechnic Institute in July, 
1896, and assisted in organizing the Plun- 
ger Elevator Company, whose plant is 
located at Barber's Crossing. He is the 
GEORGE I ALOEfi. treasurer of this company, and also of the 

Norton Emery Wheel Company; a trustee 
of the People's Savings Bank, and was for several years a trustee of the 
Worcester Mechanics Association. He is a member and past vice-presi- 
dent of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and a member of 
the Board of Examiners of the Harvard College observatory. 

At present Mr. Alden holds a very important public position, viz., that of 
chairman of the School Committee. He has been a member of the School 
Board for the past six years, serving as vice-chairman in 1896 and '97 and 
as chairman in 189S. 

Charles Albert Allen, son of Albert S. and Eliza A. (Cole) Allen, was born 
in Worcester January 27, 1852. His paternal grandfather came to Worces- 
ter from Sturbridge in 1834, and during the few years previous to the 
■completion of the various railroads, was interested in the ownership and 
management of the stage lines diverging from that centre. His father was 
well known for many years as an accomplished teacher of music. The son 
received his education in the public schools and at the Worcester Academy, 
graduating from the latter institution in 1869. Choosing the profession of 
■civil engineering, he began his practical experience in surveying the route 
of the Massachusetts Central Railroad in 1870, and a year later was engaged 
-as assistant engineer of the Worcester & Nashua Railroad, and was promoted 
to be chief engineer in 1873, holding that office three years, during which 
time the viaduct in Worcester was constructed under his supervision. He 
then became a member of the firm of Allen & Chase, and several engineer- 
ing works of importance were carried through previous to 1878, including 
"Section A" of the Boston Water Works, the Southbridge street bridge in 
Worcester, and nearly all of the stone masonry of the Worcester Lunatic 
Hospital. In 1878 Mr. Allen was elected city engineer of Worcester. In 
this capacity he supervised the construction of a large part of the sewerage 
system and the additional (Holden) water supply, and planned and put in 
■operation the sewage disposal works at Quinsigamond after an exhaustive 



The Worcester of 1898. 



541 




:iirtiiBiii»fa 



investigation, which included a 
trip to Europe, of the most ad- 
vanced meansand methods. These 
works form the largest and most 
successful chemical disposal plant 
in the world. In November, 1892, 
finding the pressure of private 
business increasing, he resigned 
the olTice of city engineer, and 
since that time has been engaged 
in extensive engineering enter- 
jirises in various parts of New 
England. His testimony as an 
expert is often sought in cases be- 
fore the courts. He was appoint- 
ed by Governor Greenhalgea mem- 
ber of the Metropolitan Water 
Board, but declined the service. 

Mr. Allen is a member of the 
American Society of Civil Engi- 
neers, the of Boston Society of Civil 
Engineers, and of the Worcester 
County Societies of Civil Engi- charles a. allen. 

neers; of the Worcester and Han- 
cock Clubs, and of certain Masonic orders. He is junior warden of St. 
Mark's Episcopal Church in Worcester. In politics he has always been a 
Republican. 

Mr. Allen married, in 1875, Grace T. Chase. They have four children: 
Robert C, Chester S., Mary H. and Grace W. 

Ethan Allen. — Few men in this locality have individually contributed 
more to the material prosperity of a community during a lifetime, or have 
stimulated enterprise in a greater degree through force of example, than 
the subject of this sketch. Identified with the rise and progress of a great 
mechanical industry, his genius and masterful ability in evolving and apply- 
ing new principles and methods were preeminent, and the way to many of 
the later developments and improvements in the manufacture of firearms 
was made plain and easy by the results of his earlier efforts in the same 
general direction. 

Ethan Allen was born in Bellingham, Massachusetts, September 2, 1806. 
He received a common school education, and was at an early age employed 
in a machine-shop in the town of Franklin, where he served an apprentice- 
ship, and soon after reaching his majority entered into business for him- 
self, at first in a small way. In 1831 he began the manufacture of small 
cutlery in Milford, and soon after removed to Grafton, in that part known 
as New England Village. Here he manufactured knives and other tools 
used by shoemakers, and also made guns and pistols in a shop which he 
erected in 1833 and occupied for several years. Here was established the 




ETHAN ALLEN, 



The Worcester of 1898. 



543 



small-arms business in which he was so successful, and in which he preceded 
Colt. One of his early inventions was the self-cocking revolver, known as 
the "pepper-box," which was much in demand at the time of the Mexican 
war and the California gold discovery, and yielded a large pecuniary return. 
Among his other inventions were several forms of revolving pistols; a 
breech-loading rifle similar to the Sharps', but said to be its superior; 
machinery in variety for manufacturing firearms; and a series of machines, 
of great perfection, for making metallic cartridges. At the Centennial 
Exhibition in 1876 nothing attracted more attention than the last named. 
He made in the course of his career a greater variety of firearms than any 
other manufacturer in this country. 




HE ETHAN ALLEN HOMESTEAD. 



About the year 1837 'Slv. Allen tot)k in partnership his brother-in-law, 
Charles Thurber, who continued in business with him until 1856, and early 
in the fifties another brother-in-law, T. P. Wheelock, was associated with 
them, the firm passing through the name-changes of Allen & Thurber, 
xVIlen, Thurber & Conlpany, and Allen cS: Wheelock. After the death of 
Mr. Wheelock in 1863, Mr. Allen took into partnership S. Forehand and H. 
C. AVadsworth, and the-firm until his death was known as Ethan Allen & 
Company. 

In 1S37 the business was removed to Norwich, Connecticut, where it 
was carried on about ten years, and was then finally located in Worcester, at 
first in the Merrifield buildings, and after the great fire of 1854, in which 





JOHN 0. MARBLE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 545 

this firm suffered, in the new shop erected by !Mr. Allen, near the South 
Worcester or Junction station and now leased to the L. D. Thayer Company, 
and which the company occupied during the remainder of ]ilr. Allen's 
life. 

Mr. Allen resided, the first few years after he came to Worcester, in a 
large house which stood nearly opposite the City Hall, and later was moved 
to its present location on Main street, near Piedmont, where it has been 
occupied successively by Jonathan Grout, Calvin Taft, Dr. F. H. Kelley, 
and R. C. Taylor, the present owner. Subsequently Mr. Allen purchased 
of Abiel Jaques the large estate, and erected the fine mansion in which he 
passed his last years, and which is now occupied by his daughter Helen 
and her husband. Dr. John ( ). Marble, and family. 

Mr. Allen died on the 7th of January, 187 1, aged sixty-four years, four 
months and five days. He left a large part of his estate to his only son, 
William Ethan, w-ho died in 1893, leaving it to his mother, Sarah E. Allen, 
who died in 1896, bequeathing it to her daughter, the wife of Doctor J. O. 
Marble. 

From a tribute written after his death by his former pastor and friend, 
the Reverend H. L. Wayland, the following extracts are made: "All of his 
creations were characterized by the extreme simplicity that seems one of 
the highest marks of a truly great invention. It was illustrative of the 
grasp and tenacity of his mind that he never put his conceptions upon 
paper. He carried them in his head until they were perfected ; the models 
and castings were then made after his verbal directions. 

" By his inventive skill, his resolute perseverance and his unwearied 
industry, Mr. Allen acquired a handsome property. Perhaps the most 
marked trait in his character was his fearlessness. He was not merely 
iirave; it seemed that the element of fear had been left out. 

■'He was a friend, warm and unchanging. He was unalterable in his 
attachments. He was a fond father, indulgent almost to a fault. He was 
an affectionate and devoted husband, strongly attached to his home and 
enjoying it very keenly. He was a kind brother and a grateful and tender 
son." He was an original and prominent member of the Main Street 
Baptist Church, and contributed one-half of the amount for the erection of 
its building. 

John Oliver Marble, M. D., son of John and Emeline (Prescott) Marble, 
and grandson of Reverend Coker ]^Iarble of Vassalborough, whose father, 
Samuel Marble, emigrated from England to this country in 1739, was born 
at Vassalborough, Maine, April 26, 1839. He received his early education 
in the district schools, at Vassalborough Academy, and Oak Grove Semi- 
nary, and fitted for college at Waterville Academy. He was graduated 
from Waterville College (now Colby University) in 1863, and subsequently 
received his degree of Master of Arts from the same institution. 

He was, by the appointment of the Honorable J. G. Blaine, a clerk in the 
War Department at Washington, D. C, from 1864 to 1866, and was in the 
Treasury Department from i866 to 1869, where he received promotion to a 
higher position, with increase of salary each year. 




LAMSON ALLEN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 547 

During this period he studied medicine, attending lectures at the medical 
department of Georgetown University in Washington, and in 1868 took his 
degree of M. D. In 1869 and 1870 he attended a post-graduate course at 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He came to Worces- 
ter and entered into practice in March, 1870, and continued to reside in this 
city in the active discharge of the duties of his profession till 1896, when he 
retired from practice, and has since occupied his time in travel and in 
congenial studies. 

Doctor Marble has been one of the active staff of physicians of the 
Worcester City Hospital from 1871 to 1891, and one of the consulting staff 
since that date. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Free 
Public Library, serving his second term, of six years each, since 1886. He 
was also surgeon of the Worcester Continentals several years. 

He was the originator of the Massachusetts Cremation Society, and has 
written extensively upon the subject of the disposal of the dead. His 
address on this subject, delivered before the Massachusetts Medical Society 
at its annual meeting in Boston in 1885, awakened much interest in the 
subject. His pamphlet, entitled "Cremation in Its Sanitary Aspects," 
published by the Massachusetts ^Medical Society and the Worcester Crema- 
tion Society, has been extensively circulated, and has drawn the attention 
of the press of the country. He has made a study of health resorts, and 
has long advocated a change of climate as a valuable remedy in many 
chronic diseases. In 1880 he visited various parts of Europe with this 
subject in view; Bermuda in 1887 and the Bahamas in 18S8 on the same 
mission, and has written at length describing their advantages to invalids. 
He has twice since that time visited Europe, in 1895 and in 1897, with 
similar purposes. 

Doctor Marble is a member of the ^lassachusetts Medical Society, one of 
its councilors since 1885, a member of the American Academy of Medicine, 
vice-president and a director of the Massachusetts Cremation Society of 
Boston, a member of the Worcester Club, the Worcester Natural History 
Society, and the Worcester Board of Trade. 

He has been very prominent in life insurance circles for many years, as 
an examiner for six of the most important companies in the country. He 
delivered an address recently before the Life Underwriters' Association at 
Boston, claiming greater importance and dignity for the medical depart- 
ment of insurance. This address was published by the insurance journals, 
highly applauded, and won for him an enviable and advanced position 
among the examiners of this part of the country. 

Though having retired from general practice, he still continues to exam- 
ine candidates for several of the best companies, having a fondness for the 
business. 

Dr. ^Marble married in 1873 Helen Yi., daughter of the late Ethan and 
Sarah E. (Murray) Allen of Worcester. They have three sons: Allen, born 
in 1875; Prescott, born in 1879. and ^Murray, born in 1885; and they now 
reside in the mansion on Murray avenue which was erected by Mr. Ethan 
Allen, the father of ]\Irs. Marble, in 1S53. 




ANDREW ATHY. 



The Worcester of 1898. 549 

Dr. Lamson Allen, A. M., is one of the leadinj;- physicians of this city. 
He was born in Wuburn, Massachusetts, June 2, iS^^. There he spent his 
boyhood days, receiving an education in the public schools of that city. 
He then went to Amherst Cnllege, where he was graduated in 1879. His 
next course was in the New York Homoeopathic ^ledical College and 
Hospital, from which he was graduated in 1883. 

Doctor Allen commenced the practice of medicine in Southbridge, Massa- 
chusetts, where he remained eight years, coming to Worcester in April, 
1892. He succeeded Doctor Edward L. Melius, and took that doctor's 
practice for a commencement here. 

He is prominently identified with the medical societies of the vState and 
county, and was for some years president of the county society. He is also 
a member of the Massachusetts Surgical and Gynecological Society and 
the American Institute of Homoeopathy. In meetings of these societies he 
has frequently contributed papers and taken part in discussions. He be- 
longs to the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Ouinsigamond Lodge, 
and also of Ridgely Lodge, No. 112, Odd Fellows. 

Doctor Allen was married in 1884 to Miss Martha R. Wyman of Cam- 
bridgeport, Massachusetts. In p:)litirs he is a Republican, and the doctor 
and his wife are members of Union Church of this city. 

Andrew Athy, one of the most prominent citizens of Worcester, was born 
in County (ialway, Ireland, on the first day of January, 1832, and died on 
the fifteenth day of May, iSg8. His family was one of great antiquity in 
Galway, one of the name, according to tradition, having erected the first 
stone house or castle within the town. William de Athy was treasurer of 
Connaught in 1388, and in the charter of Galway given by James II. the 
name' of Andrew Athy apjears. William Athy and Edmond Athy were 
bailiffs in 15 12 and 15 14, and Francis Athy was sheriff in 1631. 

John Athy, the father of Andrew, was obliged to leave Galway in 1848 on 
account of political troubles, during which he had rendered himself obnox- 
ious to the British government by his outspoken opposition to the laws then 
in force, both in public speeches and as a leader of the people in private 
councils. With his family of motherless children, his wife having died in 
1846, he crossed the ocean to Boston, and a short time after, leaving Andrew 
and the other children in the care of their uncle in that city, departed with 
his son Philip for the West, from which section he did not return for several 
years. In the meantime the uncle also removed westward, and Andrew was 
obliged to leave school and find employment in order to maintain himself. 
He first went to Westborough, and made his way to Worcester from that 
town in 1850, and was a resident of this city from that time until his death. 

He learned the trade of a bootmaker, and was employed for many years 
in the factory of Congressman Joseph H. Walker, much of the time as fore- 
man. In later years he twice defeated Mr. Walker as a candidate for rep- 
resentative in the General Court. In 1875 he engaged in the undertaking 
business at No. 16 Green street, which he successfully followed, of late years 
in partnership with his son, to the end of his life. 



550 The Worcester of 1898. 

In 1S65 Mr. Athy was elected a member of the City Council of the city of 
Worcester, and served in that body almost continuously for twenty-three 
years. He represented his ward in the Legislature in 1S74 and 1875. He 
was six years in the Board of Aldermen from 1881 to 1887, and was chair- 
man of the Committee on Street Lighting at, the time public electric lights 
were established. In December, 1886, he was the Democratic and unsuccess- 
ful candidate for mayor, receiving more votes, however, than the successful 
nominee of the year before. He was chairman of the Democratic City 
Committee in 1891-1893, and a delegate to the National Democratic Con- 
vention of 1896. He was prominently mentioned for the place of postmaster 
during President Cleveland's term. 

He was appointed one of the three members of the commission to 
supervise the erection of the new City Hall, and the last time he left 
his home was to attend a meeting of the commissioners on the occasion 
of the delivery of the keys by the contractors. 

Mr. Athy was prominent in all movements for the restoration of the 
independence of Ireland, and he always had closely at heart the interests of 
his native land. He was a member of the Jackson Guards when that 
company was disbanded by Governor Ciardner, and later he aided in the 
organization of the Emmet Guards. He was an original and prominent 
member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and held every office in that 
body. He was an organizer of the Irish Catholic Benevolent Society, was 
head centre of the Fenian Brotherhood, and president of the local Land 
League: a member of the Knights of Columbus, honorary member of the 
American-Irish Historical Society, and was connected with many other 
organizations. At his death he was president of the Irish Centennial 
Society of '98. He was several times chief marshal of the St. Patrick's 
day parades. He was a member of the Worcester Board of Trade, a 
founder of the Bay State Savings Bank, and trustee of the People's 
Savings Bank. 

'Sir. Athy's wife died in 1894. He is survived by one son, James A., his 
partner in business, and four daughters: Mary, wife of John J. Horgan; 
Frances, a graduate of the high and normal schools and a successful teacher; 
Nettie, a singer of high repute, the wife of Doctor J. J. Rafferty; and 
Annie, an actress, who has achieved success, now the wife of Doctor P. W. 
Heffern of Boston. A brother, Philip R. Athy, was chief of police in 
Memphis, Tennessee, during the terrible yellow fever scourge of 1878, and 
manfully stayed at his post; was afterwards sheriff, and died in 1SS2 at the 
age of forty-four. 

Andrew Athy is an example of what may be achieved by steadfastness of 
purpose, honesty and native talent, in advancing to a position which gained 
for him the respect of all his fellow citizens. 

"For the meager opportunities that he had, he was a wonderful man. He 
was one of the best-read men in Worcester; his library was extensive. He 
possessed a wonderful memory. Whatever he read he never forgot. A 
mass of dates and statistics which would throw the ordinary mind into a 
chaotic state was with him always arranged for practical and immediate use." 



The Worcester of 1898. 551 

From the Worccstir Daily Tclcgraiii Monday, May 16, 1898: "If Andrew 
Athy had one leaning stronger than another in his nature, it was towards 
the theatre and the stage. He loved the play, but only in its highest form, 
for there was no more fastidious theatre-goer in Worcester than he. As has 
been well said, 'he was a dictionary of theatrical reminiscences.'" 

The Daily Spy Monday, May 16, i8g8: "A leader of the famous Crispin 
strike in the winter of '69 and '70, he was offered an interest in the business 
of a prominent manufacturer, which he refused because it was coupled with 
the condition that he should abandon the Crispin cause and go into 
work." 

"Had he been less scrupulous, less generous and more worldly," said the 
Messenger, "the opportunities which he enjoyed would have enabled him to 
become a very rich man." 

"There was not a flaw in his armor <if principle, integrity and zeal for his 
fellow man. There was no blemish to mar, no stain to dim the lustre of his 
character. The life of such a man is an inspiration, his death a bereave- 
ment to the community." — From the City Government Resolutions. 

Louis L. Auger, M. D., was born in Louiseville, Canada, April 23, 1859. 
His father. Doctor Charles L. Auger, was a practising physician in that 
place, and the son had the advantages of an excellent education. After 
finishing his classical studies at Nicolet College, he took a course at Victoria 
University in Montreal, and was graduated in 1879. He located in Great 
Falls, New Hampshire, where he remained ten years in the active practice 
of his profession, and the last four years he was city physician. He also 
published for a short time in that place a French newspaper entitled Le 
Protectenr. 

In 1888 at a general convention of the French people of the country held 
at Nashua, New Hampshire, Doctor Auger was vice-president and a mem- 
ber of the committee to invite President Cleveland to visit the convention. 

In 1890 Doctor Auger visited Europe and spent three years in study in 
Paris and Berlin. For a time he was first assistant in the hospital of Doctor 
Doloris in Paris. In 1893 he came to Worcester, and he has established in 
this city a large and lucrative practice. He is a member of the Obstetrical 
and Gynecological Society of Paris, and the Medico-chirurgical Society of 
Montreal; the Massachusetts Medical Society and the Worcester Medical 
Society ; and is also connected with several local societies and clubs. 

Doctor Auger was married in August, 1884, to ^Miss Albina Magnan of 
Joliette, Province of Quebec. They have no children. 

John Stanton Baldwin was born in New Haven, Connecticut, January 6, 
1834. His father, John Denison Baldwin, was a Congregational minister, 
and was afterwards editor of the Boston Daily Commonzvealth, and later of 
the Woreester Spy ; he represented the Worcester District in Congress 
from 1863 to 1869. His mother was Lemira, daughter of Captain Ebenezer 
Hathaway of Dighton, Massachusetts. She is still living. 

He married, in October, 1863, Miss Emily Brown, daughter of Albert 
Brown, a descendant of one of the first settlers of Worcester. 




LOUIS L. AUGER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 553 

John S. Baldwin learned the printer's trade, fitted for college, and was 
graduated from the Connecticut State Normal School. Since his twentieth 
year he has been connected with a daily morning newspaper, first in Boston, 
and since 1857 in Worcester, where for many years he was chief owner 
and editor of the IVorccsti-r Spy. His public service has been in the City 
'Council, the School Board, the Legislature, and in the War of the Rebellion 
as captain of a com])any in the Fifty-first Regiment of ^Massachusetts 
\'i>lunteers. 

Phinehas Ball* was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, January 18, i<S24. 
His graiTilfather, Elijah Ball, was a Revolutionary patriot, who attained 
the rank of first lieutenant in 1779 in General Israel Putnam's command, 
and after the war passed the remainder of his life in the peaceful pursuit 
of agriculture upon a farm which he transmitted to his son, the father of 
the subject of this sketch. 

This son, Manasseh .Sawyer Ball, married Clarissa Andrews, who was 
descended from Simon and Anne Bradstreet, prominent in colonial history. 
Phinehas, the eldest son of this marriage, passed his youthful life upon the 
farm, rendering his father such assistance as his feeble strength and uncer- 
tain health permitted, alternating the summer's work with attendance at 
the winter's district schools, where he received his only instruction until he 
arrived at the age of si.vteen. 

In the winter of 1840 he spent some time in Rhi.xle Island with an uncle, 
who taught him the principles of surveying, and he was enabled with the 
aid of an old compass which had belonged to his great-great-grandfather 
to perform considerable service in land-surveying in Boylston and vicinity 
during the few succeeding years. 

In 1 841 and 1842 he was able to attend during two terms a boarding- 
school in Berlin, and this instruction, with his former schooling, comprised 
all the educational advantages he ever received other than those acquired 
by self-application. 

He taught school for several terms in neighboring towns, and in this way 
and by surveying and other labor, was enabled to maintain himself for 
several years, until in 1846 he removed to Worcester and entered upon the 
occupation of civil engineer, in which in after years he was destined to fill 
so prominent a place. 

In April, 1849, he entered into partnership with Elbridge Boyden under 
the firm name of Boyden & Ball, architects and engineers, which connection 
was maintained until i860. During this period Mr. Ball platted many of 
the real-estate changes consequent to the development of the rapidly grow- 
ing city, and was also identified with such limited public works as were 
then in progress. 

But it was later under the mayoralty of that public-spirited and clear- 
sighted man of affairs, D. Waldo Lincoln, that Mr. Ball gained his most 
solid and lasting reputation in the planning and construction of the water 
works from Lynde brook in Leicester to supply the imperative and increas- 



*See portrait on page 42. 



.if 




JOHN S. BALDWIN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 555: 

ing needs of the city, the first of the great system of aqueducts now in 
use. An immediate result of this service was the election of Mr. Ball as 
mayor for the year 1865, an office which he did not seek, accepted with 
misgivings, and relinquished with relief and thankfulness, but the duties 
of which he discharged with faithfulness and ability. The events of his 
administration are recounted in another part of this volume. 

From 1863 to 1867 Mr. Ball was water commissioner, and from 1S67 to 
1872 city engineer, and these duties, with a previous term in the City 
Council, comprised his direct services to Worcester in its corporate 
capacity. 

The present extensive sewerage system was instituted and considerably 
advanced under his official supervision. 

The success of Mr. Ball and the experience acquired in the local works led 
to his selection toconstruct or to report upon similar undertakings in other 
places in the State and in New England, notably water works in Spring- 
field, Amherst, Leominster, Marlborough, Lawrence, Brockton, Glouces- 
ter and Lynn, in ]\Iassachusetts ; Portland, Maine; Nashua and Claremont, 
New Hampshire; New Haven and New Britain, Connecticut; and sewerage 
systems for Keene, New Hampshire; Fall River, Massachusetts, and New 
Britain, Connecticut. He undertook the drainage of the Mystic valle)', 
near Boston, at the request of the State Board of Health, which important 
task he was compelled by physical disability to relinquish. 

In 1869 Mr. Ball became interested in the manufacture of water meters 
and appliances, some of which he had patented, and the Union Water 
Meter Company was formed, with which he maintained his connection as 
president until his death.- 

Mr. Ball was an active member of the Worcester County Mechanics 
Association, and served as clerk, treasurer, vice-president, and president. 
He was a member of the Worcester County Society of Engineers, the 
Boston vSociety of Engineers, and the American Water Works Association. 
He was also an active member of The Worcester Society of Antiquity, and 
gave to that institution the ancient compass which he had used in his first 
work of surveying. He was early interested in the temperance and anti- 
slavery movements, and in politics was first a Pree-vSoiler and then a 
Republican. 

For thirty-one years he was deacon of the First Unitarian Church in 
Worcester, and was for seven years president of the Worcester County 
Conference of Unitarian Churches. He was for a time a trustee of the 
Worcester County Free Institution of Industrial Science, now the Poly- 
technic Institute, and always had a deep interest in that establishment for 
practical education. 

Mr. Ball married, in 184S, Sarah Augusta Holyoke of Marlborough, who died 
in January, 1864. Of the two children by this marriage, a son died early, 
and a daughter. Miss Helen A. Ball, survives him. In November, 1865, 
while mayor, Mr. Ball married Mary Jane, daughter of Benjamin B. Otis, 
formerly a prominent resident of Worcester, and sister of John C. and 
Harrison G. Otis, and who survives her husband. 



556 The Worcester of 1898. 

After a period of declining health, Mr. Ball died on the 19th of Decem- 
ber, 1894, respected, and his death was regretted by all who knew him. 

Lewis Barnard,* for many years the senior member of the large dry-goods 
firm of Barnard, Sumner & Company, was born in Worcester May 15, 1816. 
He was a son of Captain Lewis and Bathsheba (Lovell) Barnard. He 
received his education in the common schools, at the high school in Tem- 
pleton, and at Leicester Academy. In 1839, at the age of twenty-three, he 
engaged in the dry-goods business in Springfield, where he remained until 
1842. In 1847, having returned to Worcester, he became connected in 
business with Henry H. Chamberlin, and later with George Sumner and 
Otis E. Putnam, the firm being first Chamberlin, Barnard & Company, and 
then Barnard, Sumner & Company, until in 1S90 the company was incor- 
porated as the Barnard, vSumner & Putnam Company, with Mr. Barnard as 
president. Through all these years the business continually increased in 
volume, and the house was known throughotit New England as the largest 
and most reliable dry-goods establishment in central Massachusetts. 

Mr. Barnard was, during his fifty years' acti\-e life in Worcester, known 
as a public-spirited and enterprising citizen. He served five years in the 
Board of Aldermen, and was a representative in the General Court from 
1870 to 1873, a member of the Committee on Railroads in 1872, and chair- 
man of the Insurance Committee in 1873. He was a director of the City 
Bank from 1855, a director of the Bay State Fire and of the Manufacturers' 
Mutual Insurance Companies, a trustee of the Mechanics Savings Bank, 
and a director of the Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad. 

As a relaxation from the exacting cares of business, Mr. Barnard passed 
two years in Europe with his family. For many years he resided in the fine 
estate on Lincoln street, which remains in the possession of his children. 

Mr. Barnard married, September 2, 1839, Mary A., daughter of Roland 
and Annie (Clark) Parkhurst. One son, John Clark, and two daughters, 
Mary Flora and Helen Josephine, survive their parents. 

Mr. Barnard died March 31, 1897. 

Frank Roe Batchelder was born in Worcester July 24, 1869, the son of 
James Warren Roe and Susan Maria (Marshall) Batchelder, and has been a 
resident of the city from his birth. He attended the public schools, being 
graduated from the Worcester high school with the class of 18S7. 

Soon after leaving school, he engaged in newspaper work, at first as 
a reporter upon a daily paper, and later as one of the editors of Liglit, a 
weekly publication. 

In 1890 he became the private secretary of Honorable |. H. Walker, rep- 
resentative in Congress from the 3d Massachusetts District, and has served 
in that capacity to the present time. He is also clerk of the Committee on 
Banking and Currency of the House of Representatives. 

When thirteen years old, Mr. Batchelder began the publication of an 
amateur newspaper called the (io-Alicail , which he printed himself, and 
while in the high school conducted with a classmate the Higli School 



*See portrait on page 412 



The Worcester of i8i 



557 




FRANK ROE BATCHELDE 



Aro;i(S, and later acted as chief editor of 
the Aiddciiic, the official organ of the 
school. 

Mr. Batchelder's first writings for the 
professional press were in the form of 
humorous and satirical verses, some of 
the best of which were published in Life, 
the New York satirical weekl}-. He has 
since contributed verses, short stories and 
other matter to various weekly periodicals 
and magazines, and in some cases has 
illustrated his writings by means of photo- 
graphs made by himself. 

He is a Mason and a member of Worcester 
County Commandery of Knights Templars, 
and at the organization of the Young Men's 
Republican Club was elected its first presi- 
dent. 

He married, in 1893, Mabel Caroline Streeter of Worcester, and they 
have one son, Roger Batchelder, born 1897. 

Theodore Cornelius Bates, son of Elijah and Sarah (Fletcher) Bates, was 
born in North Bninkfield, Massachusetts, June 4, 1843. He received his 
education in the schools of his native town, and at Pinkerton Academy, 
Derry, New Hampshire. He was a member of the first class graduated at 
the high school of his native town. He fitted for college at Pinkerton 
Academy. He was for several years employed in teaching in the Brook- 
fields, and later engaged in business in Boston and other places until 1876, 
when he acquired an interest in the manufacturing plant of the Worcester 
Corset Company, and afterwards became sole proprietor. 

He early took a prominent position in the Republican party in this State. 
In 1879 he was elected to the General, Court from North Brookfield. In the 
House he was chairman of the Committee on Claims, and a member of the 
celebrated Retrenchment Committee of Governor Thomas Talbot's admin- 
istration. He was elected to the Massachusetts vSenate in 1883, and served 
as chairman of the joint Committee on Pvailroads, was a member of the 
Committee on Prisons, and also on the State House Committee. He 
declined a unanimous renomination both to the House and vSenate. He 
never missed a vote in either branch of the Legislature, and he gave to 
the Free Public Library and Reading-Room of his native town his salary 
while in the Legislature, both House and Senate. 

He was for several years chairman of the Executive Committee of the 
Republican State Central Committee and also for many years chairman 
of the Executive Committee of the Worcester County Republican Com- 
mittee, and of the Congressional District Committee. He was elected 
a delegate from the Worcester Congressional District to the National 
Republican Convention at Chicago in 1884. He was elected by the Legis- 
lature a State director of the Boston &' Albany Railroad Company in 1880,. 




THEODORE 0. BATES. 



The Worcester of 1898. 559 

and served until the Commonwealth disposed of its stock in that corpora- 
tion. He was also for several years a member of the State Board of Health, 
resigning after five years of service, on account of his numerous business 
engagements. He was appointed by President Hayes commissioner for 
Massachusetts for the proposed World's Fair to be held at New York in 
1883, of which General U. S. Grant was president, and Air. Bates was chair- 
man of the Executive Committee from New England. 

For many years he has been identified with the manufacturing interests 
of New England, and is also interested in the promotion of railroads and 
other public works. He is president and director in several corporations, 
and was for a number of )'ears president of the Corset Manufacturers' 
Association of the United States. 

In the welfare of his native town he has always felt a deep interest, and 
has exerted himself in many ways as a public-spirited citizen to confer 
benefits upon it. He was the founder there of the Free Public Library and 
Reading-Room, having given freely for its establishment and maintenance, 
and having been for eighteen years chairman of its Board of Trustees. He 
was influential in the construction of the North Brookfield railroad, which 
was largely built by the town, and of which he was since its incorporation 
in 1875 a director, and for several years past its president. He served as 
chairman of the committee elected by the town to publish the town history 
<if North Brookfield, which has been widely commended as a model in its 
line. He was also chairman of the Board of Water Commissioners, and 
chief promoter of that enterprise, which provided the town with one of the 
best water systems in the State, a work accomplished with great difficulty 
and at enormous expense for so small a town. 

Mr. Bates was married in 1868 to Emma Frances Duncan of North Brook- 
field. They have one daughter, Tryphosa Duncan, now the wife of Francis 
Batcheller of North Brookfield; president of the shoe manufacturing firm of 
E. & A. H. Batcheller Company. 

Mr. Bates has been blessed with a great measure of success in worldly 
matters, and has achieved by his own native force and talent a position 
attained by few. He possesses great personal magnetism, which attracts to 
him many friends, and he exerts a strong influence in the community, and 
in the political party to w'hich he has so many years given faithful service. 

Merrick Bemis, M. D., was born in vSturbridge, Massachusetts, May 4, 
1.^20. His parents removed to Charlton, thence to Brookfield, during his 
early childhood, and he was brought up on a farm, with such advantages 
as the country district schools afforded. A natural thirst for knowledge, 
however, led him to seek further improvement, and he was able by his own 
efforts to pay his way through Dudley Academy, walking each way every 
week the twelve miles' distance between his home and that place. With 
money obtained by teaching school in the winter, he entered Amherst 
Academy, with the intention of pursuing the full course in Amherst College, 
but a severe illness of long duration compelled him to abandon this purpose. 
He was engaged for several years in teaching school in Brookfield. At the 
age of twenty-two he began the study of medicine, and soon after went to 




MERRICK BEMIS. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



561 



Boston, and remained five years in the office of Doctor Winslow Lewis, 
leaving the office during the winter months, however, that he might, by 
teaching, defray the expenses of his medical studies, — in the meantime 
attending medical lectures at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and Castleton, Ver- 
mont, receiving his degree from the college in the latter place in 1848. 
On November 14th of the last-named year. Doctor Bemis carne to Worces- 
ter to take the place temporarily of one of the physicians in the State 
Lunatic Hospital, and was soon after appointed assistant physician to 
Doctor George Chandler, who was superintendent of that institution, and 
continued in that connection eight years. Doctor Chandler resigned at 
the close of the year 1855, and Doctor Bemis was elected his successor by 




SALISBURY STREET. 



the trustees. He was granted leave of absence for the purpose of travel 
and study in Europe, and after an extended tour of eight months, returned 
and took charge of the hospital in the summer of 1857. Li this station he 
remained seventeen years, resigning in 1872. During this period several 
important changes in methods and administration were carried through, 
and the institution maintained a high reputation among similar establish- 
ments throughout the country. He was the first to advocate the employ- 
ment of female physicians in asylums, and the custom soon became general. 
In the closing years of his service here. Doctor Bemis purchased the 
various estates now constituting the hospital property at the lake, and 
submitted plans for the erection of buildings, and, in view of the change of 
location, again, in 1868, visited Europe to inspect hospitals and treatment 
of patients there. After twenty-five vears' continuous service in the State 
36 



562 The Worcester of 1898. 

institution, Doctor Bemis resigned, and soon after established the private 
asylum for the care and treatment of women afflicted with various forms 
of mental and nervous disease, at Herbert Hall in Worcester. 

This large mansion, situated on vSalisbury street, was erected in 1857 by 
the late Reverend Nathaniel T. Bent for the purposes of a young ladies' 
school, and the property, which includes an estate of about ten acres, came 
into Doctor Bemis' possession in 1873. This institution he has conducted 
with great success to the present time, his son, Doctor John M. Bemis, 
being associated with him in the management for the last few years. As 
an expert in insanity. Doctor Bemis' services are frequently solicited in 
consultation and in courts. 

Doctor Bemis was a member of the Board of Aldermen in 1861, 1862 and 
1863, and he served on the School Board during the same period. In war- 
time he took an active interest in the welfare of the soldiers and their 
families, and contributed much of his means and effort toward their relief. 
All matters of public concern have had his ready sympathy and active 
assistance to the extent of his ability. He has been a director of the 
Mechanics National Bank, is a member of the Horticultural Society, The 
Worcester Society of Antiquity and the Natural History Society, and is 
and has been for several years president of the last-named body. He is a 
member of the Massachusetts and Worcester District Medical Societies and 
of the American Medical Association, also of the New England Psycho- 
logical Society and of the American Medico-Psychological Association. 

He is connected with the Masonic order, and is a member of the Church 
of the Unity and a life-member of the American Unitarian Association. 
Since 1887 he has been one of the State Trustees of the Baldwinsville 
Hospital Cottages for Children, and is president of the corporation. In this 
connection it may be stated that Doctor Bemis was the first American 
physician to advocate the division of hospital buildings for the insane into 
separate cottages or pavilions. 

Doctor Bemis is a book-lover of more than ordinary fervor, and has 
gathered, through a long series of years, a fine library, which comprises 
many rare editions and costly works of art. In the companionship of these 
volumes he has found solace and diversion from the exacting duties of his 
profession, and in their possession one of the chief gratifications of life. 

Doctor Bemis married, January i, 1856, Caroline A. Gilmore. Her father 
was a physician of Brookfield for more than thirty years. They have one 
son, John Merrick Bemis, a physician, and member of the Massachu.setts 
and Worcester District Medical Societies and of the American Medical 
Association. 

Charles M. Bent,* a son of the late Reverend Nathaniel T. and Catherine 
E. D. (Metcalf) Bent, was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Octobers, 
1S35. In 1849 his family moved to Worcester, and in 1851 he became a 
clerk in the Worcester Bank, where he received careful training from the 
late William Cross, the cashier, who was considered one of the most skillful 



*See portrait on page 37S. 



The Worcester of 1898. 563 

financiers in the city, and who developed in the young man those traits of 
sagacity and sound judgment which entitled him in after years to a position 
among the prominent financial men of the State. When the People's 
Savings Bank was incorporated in 1864, Mr. Bent, then bookkeeper in the 
Worcester National Bank, became its treasurer, which position he holds at 
the present time. Being enthusiastically devoted to the interests of the 
bank he represents, he has had little time to devote to public affairs. 

Mr. Bent possesses musical tastes above the average, and is closely iden- 
tified with the musical interests of the city. He was at one time president 
•of the Choral Union, and has for many years been a director and is now 
president of the Worcester County Musical Association. 

By birth and education an Episcopalian, he has for many years been 
prominently and ofificially connected with All Saints' Church, of which his 
father was at one time the rector. 

Mr. Bent was married in 1867 to Helen Maria, daughter of James L. 
Kennedy of Milton, Massachusetts. They have had two children, one of 
whom. Miss Catherine M. Bent, is living. 

Horace H. Bigelow was born in I\Iarlborough, Massachusetts, on June 2d, 
1827. He attended the public schools of his native town until the age of 
fifteen, when he began to learn the shoemakers' trade, which at that time 
was in the crude state of all trade work. In 1850 he went to New York 
with an uncle to engage in the manufacture of New York city shoes. He 
subsequently continued this business in Albany, New York ; Providence, 
Rhode Island, and Trenton, New Jersey. It was during this period of 
his life next succeeding that Mr. Bigelow interested himself in the great 
question of the employment of convict labor. In 1864 he removed to 
Worcester, and for eight years was superintendent of the Bay State Shoe & 
Leather Company, in which he had the largest primary interest. Endowed 
naturally with a spirit of progress, it was inevitable that Mr. Bigelow's long 
connection with the shoe business should bring forth now ideas of his own 
for improving the industry. For instance, in 1869 he patented a product of 
machine for making heels from waste leather, which proved a valuable 
innovation, and it was universally introduced in this country and in Europe. 
In 1875 occurred the union of the McKay and Bigelow heeling-machine 
companies, which ended a bitter struggle between rival interests. After 
this date Mr. Bigelow retired from active interest in shoe manufacture and 
turned his attention to other enterprises. He established the electric 
lighting in Worcester, and also the power company, which was the direct 
forerunner to the present company, to which Mr. Bigelow sold out. He 
became largely interested in real estate on both shores of Lake Quinsiga- 
mond, and at the same time secured control of the Worcester & Shrewsbury 
Railroad. He operated the railroad until its lease to the Consolidated 
vStreet Railway two years ago. He was instrumental in establishing most 
of the club-houses at the lake, and has built up practically the whole of the 
suburb known as Lake Yiew. In 1884 he gave to the city si.xty acres of 
land on the shore of Lake Quinsigamond, which tract was the foundation 
of the present Lake park. In 1882 Mr. Bigelow purchased the land known 




HORACE H. BIGELOW. 



The Worcester of i? 



565 



as the Rink property, between Foster and Mechanic streets, which up to 
that time was the largest real-estate transfer in Worcester, and he is now 
engaged in improving this property. Mr. Bigelow has always been free 
from sectarianism in religion and all party prejudice. He has always been 
a supporter of freedom of thought and of all worthy liberal movements. 
He largely aided in a pecuniary way the publication of the Genealogy of the 
Bigelow Family, and other undertakings have received assistance from him 
at different times. 

He was twice married. His first wife, Lucy Ann Howe, died in 1857. 
He married Adelaide Elizabeth Buck of Portland, Connecticut, in 1859, 
and has a daughter, Adelaide F. Stevens, and two sons, Irving E. and 
Francis H. 




.IDENCE OF GEORGE F. 



LINCOLN STREET. 



George Fordyce Blake, Jr., born February 9, 1859, at Medford, Massa- 
chusetts, is a descendant in the eighth generation from William Blake, who 
came from Little Braddon, Essex, England, in 1630, and first settled in 
Dorchester, removing in 1636 with William Pynchon to Springfield, the 
line being as follows: William,' James,'' James,-! Increase,'' Increase, =* Doctor 
Thomas Dawes,° George F.,' who married first in 1845 Sarah S. Skinner, 
and second, in 1857, Martha J. Skinner, a sister of his first wife. Of this 
second marriage the subject of this sketch was the oldest child. 

George F. Blake, Jr., was educated in the public schools, Warren Acad- 
emy at Wdburn, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 
class of 1S79. In 1880 he made a trip around the world, and for the next 




GEORGE F. BLAKE, JR. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



567 



four years was engaged with the George F. Blake Manufacturing Company, 
of which his father was president, as draughtsman. February 28, 1884, 
he entered into business at Worcester in the iron and steel trade as a 
member of the firm of Blake, Boutwell & Company, which in 1891 became 
George F. Blake, Jr., & Company. In addition to this interest the con- 
duct of an iron-mill in Wareham and a store in Boston was assumed in 
1893, and in 1896 the firm of Blake, Sampson & Company, dealing in coal, 
was formed. Notwithstanding these various responsibilities, Mr. Blake is 
actively connected with several large corporations and important financial 
institutions. He was three years a director of the Providence & Worcester 
Railroad before it was absorbed by the New York & Boston and then by 
the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. He is a trustee of the 
Worcester County Institution for Savings; a director of the Central National 
Bank of Worcester, the State Mutual Life Assurance Company and the 




SUVIMER RESiDEMCE 



GEORGE F. 



vE, SALISBURY STREET. 



Callahan Supply Company ; and president of the Light, Heat & Power 
Corporation, owners, lessees and operators of light, heat and power plants, 
Boston. He is a member of the Worcester and Commonwealth Clubs; of 
the Quinsigamond Boat Club, of which he was two years president ; of the 
Tatnuck Country Club; the Exchange Club, Boston; the Calumet Club, New 
York, and the Technology Club, Boston; of the Worcester Board of Trade 
and the Home Market Club. 

Mr. Blake married, April 29. 1SS5, Miss Carrie Howard Turner, daughter 
of Job A. and Vesta (Howard) Turner. They have two children born in 
Worcester: Fordyce, February lo, 1889, and Vesta Carolyn, ^larch 31. 1S96. 

Elbridge Boydea was born in Somerset, Vermont, July 4, iSio, and died 
in Worcester ^March 25, 1898. His father was a Revolutionary soldier. He 
early developed mechanical talent, and was employed when a mere boy in 
a saw-mill, and soon received wages equal to the best mill-hands. His 
school education was limited, but he possessed a strong common sense, 







ELBRIuGc B'J'iDtN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 569 

which served him through life as well as book knowledge. At the age of 
sixteen he was apprenticed to a carpenter in the town of Athol, and the 
first year began to study architecture, and in drawing soon became profi- 
cient. He was engaged in building in Athol about twenty years, and came 
to Worcester to follow that business in April, 1844. He had, previous to 
this, given some indication of the genius which waited an opportunity for 
development. He came into competition in Worcester with several noted 
builders, some of whose specimens remain to-day in the mansions of that 
time; but they soon passed away, and for many years he was the principal 
designer and architect of the city. In 1847 he formed a business connection 
with Phinehas Ball, civil engineer, under the name of Boyden & Ball, which 
continued fourteen years, and during that time most of the engineering and 
architectural work in the city and surrounding towns came into their hands. 
Mr. Boyden made plans for buildings in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 
Riiode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, 
Illinois, Kansas, Oregon and Georgia. His designs were characterized by 
breadth, symmetry, and often by grandeur. His best known work is 
Mechanics Hall, acknowledged to be one of the finest halls in America. 
He, without following him in every principle, belonged to the school of 
which Bulfinch was the representative, his work appealing more to popular 
appreciation, as does Gray's " Elegy" and Bryant's " Thanatopsis," than the 
more involved conceptions of the present time, which require a great deal 
of e.xplanation before they can be understood. 

Mr. Boyden conceived the idea of using burnt clay for ornaments, and 
interested a potter in the notion long before he heard of terra-cotta; and in 
many ways he evidenced originality and independence. 

Mr. Boyden was a broad-minded and public-spirited citizen, and a whole- 
souled man. His disposition is well illustrated by the stand he took in 
regard to the location of the new City Hall, declaring that while it was for 
his personal interest to have it placed at Lincoln square, he was for the 
whole city, and that the building should go on the Common. He remained 
active and vigorous to the very end of his life, maintaining a deep interest 
in all matters of public concern, e.xhibiting a keenness of intellect character- 
istic more of middle life than of age. His death was universally regretted 
in a community in which he had been for more than half a century a 
prominent figure. 

Alzirus Brown, son of Joel and Lucy Brown, was born in Concord, 
Massachusetts, October 17, 1S21. He lived in Boylston during his child- 
liood, and came to Worcester from that place in 1838, sixty years ago. At 
that time the town contained only 5,800 inhabitants, and Mr. Brown has 
witnessed the rise and progress of everything of importance which goes to 
make up the great city of to-day. He learned sash and blind making on 
coming here, and later was for fourteen years at the Bradley car-shops as 
contractor, doing the finishing of the inside work in cars. 

While at this place he became interested in the manufacture of the 
Buckeye mowing-machines, which he built here for many years, and was 
at the time of his death, though not actively, connected with that industry. 




EDWIN BROWN. 



The Worcester of if 



571 




ALZIRUS BROWN. 



About thirty years ago he established 
a large heavy trucking business, which 
he continued until his death. 

In the early forties i\Ir. Brown joined 
the Fire Department as a member of the 
old hook-and-ladder company, and was 
soon elected its foreman. He was pro- 
moted to the Board of Engineers, and 
in 186 1 became chief engineer, which 
office he held five years, ill health com- 
pelling him to retire. The department 
during this time comprised 467 men, and 
Mr. Brown's popularity was evidenced by 
the presentation to him on his withdrawal 
of a handsome silver service. 

Mr. Brown was one of the compara- 
tively few remaining who voted at the 
first city election in 1848. He had always 

been a good citizen, favoring all measures which would promote the city's 
interests. For fifteen years he was on the School Board of the city, and 
for eighteen years on the Overseers of the Poor, but excepting these he 
would never accept political ofKce. He was a director in the Electric 
Light Company, and was financially connected with the Buckeye Mowing- 
machine Company, and with other Worcester industries. When he bought 
his residence at 633 Main street (which was built for a sister of Governor 
Bullock, the wife of Nelson Wheeler, principal of the high school), forty 
years ago, it was considered out of the world, but it is now not far from the 
city's centre. Mr. Brown died September i, 1S9S. 

In 1843 Mr. Brown married !Miss Harriet D., daughter of Gains Proctor 
and Betsey (Pickens) Proctor of Concord, Massachusetts. 

Edwin Brown, son of Albert and Mary Blair (Eaton) Brown, was born in 
Worcester March 24, 1844. Through his mother he is descended from 
Jonas Rice, the first permanent settler, and his son, Adonijah Rice, the 
first white child born in Worcester. 

Mr. Brown received his education in the public schools, and in i860 
became a clerk in the City Bank, where he remained until 1862, when he 
enlisted in the Fifty-first Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, serving 
until 1863, when he returned to the City Bank, remaining there until 187 i, 
with the exception of one year in the Worcester National Bank as teller, 
and then returned to the City Bank as assistant cashier. In 1871 he 
became a member of the firm of T. K. Earle & Company, card-clothing 
manufacturers, and later was manager and treasurer of the T. K. Earle 
Manufacturing Company. When the American Card Clothing Company 
was formed in 1890, Mr. Brown was elected treasurer of that corporation, 
and still holds the office. 

^Ir. Brown was one of the original members i>f the Ouinsigamond Boat 
Club, and maintains his connection with it. He is a member of the 




GEORGE L. BROWNELL. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



57?- 



Worcester Board of Trade, of the Worcester Fire Society, the Grand Army 
of the Republic, and various other societies and organizations. He is a 
Republican in politics. 

In 1872 Mr. Brown married r^Iariana Alifflin, daughter of Timothy Keese 
and Xancy Shove (Hacker) Earle, and they have four sons. 

George Loomis Brownell was born July 13, 1854, at East Haddam, Con- 
necticut. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, at 
Williston vSeminary, Easthampton, ]\Iassachusetts, and at the Sheffield 
Scientific School of Yale University, where he was graduated in 1S75. He 




RESIDENCE OF GEORGE L. BROWNELL, 14 JOHN STREET. 



was among the leading athletes while in college, rowing on the victorious 
Yale freshmen crew at Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1873, and with "Bob" 
Cook on the Yale University crew at Saratoga in 1874 and 1875. 

After leaving college he was engaged in teaching for two years in his 
native town, during which time, when not employed in school duties, he 
invented an improved twisting-machine, which he built and had patented 
in 1878. He afterwards built and sold several of his machines, and looking 
for a better locality in which to develop his inventions, came to Worcester 
in iSSo, and had two machines built by contract imder his personal super- 
vision at the W^ashburn machine-shop. He then hired a small room in the 
basement at 57 Union street, and began the manufacture, on a limited 




WILLIAM H. BURNS. 



The Worcester of 1898. 575 

scale, of the improved twisting-machinery which has developed into the 
present extensive business. He moved in 1883 to No. 16 Union street, and 
again in 1895 to his present quarters at 49 Union street. He now employs 
about fifty men, the majority of whom are skilled artisans, who have been 
with him many years. Several of them having learned their trade here 
have never worked elsewhere. His relations with his employees have 
always been marked by mutual consideration and courtesy. At first only 
one style of machine was built, but now the list includes a great variety of 
machines for spinning and twisting cotton, flax, hemp, silk, jute, sisal, 
manilla, wire, hair, paper, etc. Mr. Brownell has taken out a large number 
of United States and foreign patents, all of his machines having been 
invented by himself. The machines are used in all parts of the United 
States and in foreign countries, and the business has constantly in- 
creased. 

While living in East Haddam, Mr. Brownell was a member of the School 
Committee of that town. He is a member of the Central Church in Worces- 
ter, and was secretary of the Building Committee when the present fine 
•church edifice was erected. He married in 1881 Miss Elizabeth M. Reed 
of Brookfield, Mass. They have two sons, Leroy, aged twelve years, and 
Carl Reed, nine years old. 

William Henry Burns, president of the William H. Burns Company, was 
born June 22, 1856, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on the historic Bunker 
Hill. He was the son of Mr. James Monroe Burns, the descendant of a 
Scotch family who came to this country in the seventeenth century and 
settled in what is now the city of Haverhill. 

Mr. Burns' parents moved to Somerville when he was very young, and 
his early education was received in the public schools of that city. He is 
a graduate of the Bryant & Stratton Business College, Boston, and also 
of the vState Normal School at Bridgewater. He intended to make teach- 
ing a profession, but later developed a strong liking for business life. 

His father died when he was fourteen years old, and, as the family was 
poor, young Burns had to work his way under depressing circumstances. 
An aunt gave him some assistance in procuring an education, but he 
worked hard, studying nights, and substantially provided for himself. 

After his graduation from the Normal School he spent three years in 
teaching in the public schools of Spencer. But in the fall of 1881 he 
entered upon a more active business life; this was traveling for a Boston 
house selling underwear.' Born with an ambition to get to the top of the 
ladder and as soon as possible, he settled in Worcester two years later 
and commenced the manufacture of these goods. The business has been 
wonderfully developed and made a sviccess, as noted in the sketch of the 
company which appears in another part of this book. 

Mr. Burns was united in marriage November 21, 1882, with Miss Annie 
F. Green, only daughter of Henry R. Green of Spencer. The fruit of this 
union is four sons: Arthur Henry, William Russell, Randall Green and 
Ernest Clement, who were born December 31, 1883; February i, 1887; 
December 11, 1890, and September 5, 1892, respectively. 



576 



The Worcester of i8g8. 



His religious views are of the Trinitarian order, and he is a regular 
attendant on public worship at Plymouth Church. 

In politics Mr. Burns is a staunch Republican, always liberal in his 
contributions to every commendable object of reform and benevolence. 
He has not sought public life, but believes every man should be willing to 
devote some time to the public good if called upon to do so. He was a 
member of the City Government from Ward 8 for two years, 1893 and 
1894, but owing to his large business interests was obliged to decline a 
second term. 




RiSIOEMCE OF WILLIAVI H. BURNS, 57 CEDAR STREET. 



Albert Conant Buttrick, a leading civil engineer of this city, was born in 
Jaffrey, Xcw Hampshire, September 2, 1829. He is a descendant of William 
Buttrick, who came to this country from England and settled in Concord, 
Massachusetts, in 1634. His early education was obtained in the public 
schools of Holden, and at the select school then having its sessions in the 
Town Hall, following that at the Leicester Academy. 

He then studied civil engineering with the late Honorable Phinehas Ball 
in 1850 and 1851, and since that date has been actively engaged in the 
practice of his profession in Worcester, the New England States and New 
York state. Always having had his <iffice in Worcester he has been identi- 
fied with the engineering in connection with numerous large buildings in 
this city. Among these may be mentioned the Y. M. C. A. building, that 



The Worcester of il 



•^77 




ALBERT C. BUTTRICK. 



of the Y. W. C. A., the Arm<.)ry, county 
jail, new County Court House grounds, 
hospital buildings, machine-shops through 
Grove and Union streets, and various 
churches. He made the surveys for 
inaugurating a system of sewerage for 
the city; this was under ^layor Blake's 
administration in 1866. 

In March. 1S74, the dam at Lynde 
brook reservoir broke away, and the con- 
sequence was the destruction of all the 
dams through Cherry Valley down to 
New Worcester. Mr. Buttrick did the 
engineering and superintended the recon- 
struction of most of these clams. He has 
made preliminary and locating surveys 
for railroads in this and adjoining states; 
and in 1854 he was associated with the 

late Gill Valentine in the laying out of Hope cemetery. ^Ir. H. A. 
Pratt is now associated with him, and they have a fine ofifice in the State 
Mutual building. At present they are engaged in laying out new streets 
and developing new tracts of land in the northwest part of the city. 

Mr. Buttrick is one of the original members of the Worcester County 
Society of Engineering, and was its first president ; also was one of the first 
members of the Worcester Congregational Club, and is a life member of the 
Worcester County Mechanics Association. He is a member of the Old 
South Church, and was one of the committee for disposing of its interest in 
the Common and purchasing the new site and building its present house of 
worship. 

He has been twice married; his first wife was Miss Elizabeth S. Newton, 
and his present wife was Miss Teresa Corbett, to whijm he was imited in 
1S87. They have two daughters, Louisa A., nine years old, and Lizzie N., 
five years of age. Their pleasant home is located at 52 May street. 

Clarence F. Carroll, A. M.,* the superintendent of schools in Worcester, 
was born in Enfield, New Hampshire, April, iS^r. He attended the 
district schools of Sutton, New Hampshire, until he was thirteen years of 
age, when he became a student at Colby Academy in New London, New 
Hampshire, graduating from that institution in 1869. He entered Yale 
College the same year, but was forced to give up his studies after a few- 
weeks on account of ill health caused by over-study. During the two 
years following he traveled in Europe, and later taught in academies and 
district schools in different towns. In September, 1871, ^Ir. Carroll was 
elected principal of the graded school in Mamaroneck, New York, and three 
months later was called to the principalship of the Fourth Warren School, 
Long Island City, New York. In September, 1873, he became principal of 

*See portrait on page 16S. 




HENRY H. CHAMBERLIN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 579 

the grammar and high school at East Orange, New Jersey. He remained 
here until September, 1878, when he returned to college and entered the 
sophomore class. He received his degree from Yale in 1881. Immediately 
after graduation he was .elected superintendent of schools in Oil City, 
Pennsylvania. In 1S83 he was made principal of the Normal School at 
New Britain, Connecticut, where he remained ten years. He originated 
and practically organized the normal school system of Connecticut, and 
placed it on its present successful basis. In 1893 he was elected superin- 
tendent of the schools of Worcester, Massachusetts, which position he still 
holds. 

Henry Harmon Chamberlin was born in Hardwick on the 7th of January, 
1813. The family moved to Worcester in 1S22, where he has since resided. 
He attended the Latin Grammar School till 1S27, when he was apprenticed 
to Daniel Heywood, who kept one of the three country stores in town, where 
were sold dry goods, hardware, shoes, groceries and liquor. 

In 1835 he opened the old "Hamilton vStore," a small one-story building 
standing nearly opposite where Mechanics Hall now stands. 

In 1840 the firm of H. H. Chamberlin & Co. was formed, ar d this subse- 
quently became the firm of Chamberlin, Barnard & Co. Abo it 1850 the 
store now occupied by the firm of Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Company 
was built. He left the firm in 1858 and began the manufacture of woolen 
and cotton goods in North Oxford, where he remained during the Civil War. 
He afterwards carried on an extensive wool business in Worcester, and is 
now engaged in real-estate business. 

He was much interested in the Free-Soil movement, and was instrumental 
in urging the S/ty to support the movement. In 1854 he was a member of 
the Legislature, and in 1872 he was a member of the Board of Aldermen. 

Robert Horace Chamberlain, sheriff of the county, was born in Worcester 
June 16, 1838. He is a great-grandson of Jacob Chamberlain, who came to 
AVorcester from Newton about the year 1740, and settled on a farm in the 
north part of the town. John Chamberlain, the eldest son of Jacob, and 
grandfather of the subject of our sketch, was prominent in town affairs, 
selectman fifteen years, and deacon of the First Parish twenty-two years. 
He married Mary, daughter of Captain John Curtis, and was the father of 
a distinguished family. One son, John Curtis Chamberlain, became a 
lawyer of note in Charlestown, New Hampshire, and was a member of 
Congress; another, Levi Chamberlain, also a lawyer of distinction in New 
Hampshire, was a member of the Peace Congress of 1861: and a third, 
Henry Chamberlain, practised law in Maine and Alabama. Thomas Cham- 
ix'rlain, the father of Robert H., was for seventeen years crier of the 
courts in Worcester, and was president of the first Common Council of the 
city in 1848. He filled most of the offices in the vState Militia from cor])oral 
to brigadier-general. He was a man universally respected. 

Robert H. Chamberlain was educated in the public schools of Worcester, 
and at the Worcester Academy. He learned the machinists' trade, serving 
an apprenticeship of three years in Ball & Ballard's shop on School street. 



58o 



Thu Wof<cesti£r of iSgS. 




ROBERT H. CHAMBERLAIN. 



He left this oecuixitii)n to enlist in 
Company A, Fifty-first Alassachu- 
setts Volunteers, a nine months' 
regiment raised in 1862, and was 
appointed sergeant. At the end of 
this service he was commissioned 
first lieutenant in the Si.xtieth 
Regiment, and was afterwards 
captain, serving imtil mustered 
out in November, 1864. In 1865 
he reorganized the Worcester City 
Guards, and was captain two years. 
In the State Militia he passed suc- 
cessively through the grades of 
major and colonel to that of brig- 
adier-general of the Third Brigade. 
General Chamberlain was a mem- 
ber of the Common Council of the 
city in i869-'7o. In 1S70 he was 
appointed superintendent of sew- 
ers, which position he held until 
i88S, when he was appointed mas- 
ter of the House of Correction. 
He was elected sheriff of the county 
in 1892. The duties of this office, which he still holds, have been dis- 
charged by him with marked ability, and to the satisfaction of his 
constituency. 

General Chamberlain is a member of several social and fraternal bodies, 
and of other societies. He is active in the Mechanics Association, and was 
its president for three years. He is a past eminent commander of Worces- 
ter County Commandery, Knights Templars, and was for many years the 
e.xecutive officer of the same at public parades. 

General Chamberlain married listher Browning of Hubbanlston in 1865. 

Henry Chapin* was born in Ujiton, Massachusetts, May 13, 181 1. His 
parents possessed small means, and he had no early advantages beyond 
those commonly enjoyed by all the sons of New England. By the sudden 
death of his father, he was thrown almost wholly upon his own resources, 
and he decided to learn the carpenters' trade, but became convinced after a 
few months' trial that he had neither the aptitude nor the inclination for 
that avocation. He now determined to apply himself to study, and began 
at once to fit for college. He was graduated at Brown University in 1835. 
He then taught school in his native town, afterwards studied law with 
Emory Washburn and at Cambridge, and on his admission to the bar in 
1838 began to practise in Uxbridge. In 1S46 he removed to Worcester and 
became a partner of Rejoice Newton. His practice at the bar was large 



' See portrait on page 20. 



The Worcester of 1898. 581 

and successful, and through his natural ability he soon came into promi- 
nence. He was a member of the General Court from Uxbridye in 1S45, 
and was elected mayor of Worcester in 1849 and 1850, declining a third 
nomination; but he accepted the office again for a short time after the 
death of Mayor Blake in 1870 until a successor could be chosen. He was 
nominated by the Republicans for representative in 185 6, but declined the 
honor. In 1858 he was appointed judge of probate and insolvency for the 
county, which office he continued to hold until his death, which took place 
October 13, 1878. 

Judge Chapin was for many years a member of the State Board of 
Education, and for fifteen years one of the trustees of the Worcester 
Lunatic Hospital. In these positions he was influential in establishing the 
State Normal School in Worcester, and in locating the new Insane Hospital 
at the lake. He was for many years president of the People's Fire Insur- 
ance Company, a director of the City National Bank, and vice-president of 
the Worcester County Institution for Savings. He served as a director of 
the Providence & Worcester Railroad about thirty years. 

He was a member of the Church of the Unity and superintendent of its 
Sunday school. He was twice elected president of the American Unitarian 
Association, and was otherwise prominent in the denomination. He was 
a member of the American Antiquarian Society. Three years before his 
death he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Brown LTniversity. 

In politics he was an effective force, and was of radical tendencies in 
regard to the slavery and temperance questions. He was a witty and able 
speaker, and was always welcomed in public gatherings. 

Mr. Chapin married, October 8, 1839, Sarah, daughter of Joseph Thayer, 
E.squire, of Uxbridge, who died in 1869. Their only child died at the age 
of seven years and ten months. In 187 i he married Louisa, a sister of his 
former wife. The Memorial Home for Nurses on the grounds of the City 
Hospital was erected in memory of these two sisters, by their brother, 
l-dwaril C. Thayer, Esquire, of Keene, New Hampshire. 

Charles A. Chase,* treasurer of Worcester County Institution for Savings, 
was born in Worcester September 9, 1833. He received his early education 
in the public schools of his native town, and was graduated at Harvard 
College in the class of 1855. He was for several years connected with the 
editorial staff of the Boston Advertiser. In 1865 he was elected treasurer 
of the county of Worcester, succeeding his father, the late Anthony Chase, 
who resigned the office after many years' service; and in 1876 he relin- 
quished that position to become register of deeds. In 1879 he was appointed 
treasurer of the Worcester County Institution tor Savings, and has dis- 
charged the duties of that office with marked ability to the present 
time. 

Mr. Chase is a ready and correct writer, and is especially interested in 
matters connected with the history of his native place, in which he is 
regarded as an authority. He has contributed several papers of wider 



^See portrait on page 362 



^!m ^ 




JONAS G. CLARK. 



The Worcester of 1898. 583 

scope to the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, of which 
he is the recording secretary. He is treasurer of the Memorial Hospital, 
and is connected with various societies, clubs and other institutions. He 
was married in 1863, and has two children. 

Jonas Gilman Clark, the founder of Clark University, was born in 
Hubbardston, ^lassachusetts, February i, iSrj. His great-grandfather, 
John Clark, a direct descendant of Hugh Clark, the emigrant, settled in 
Hubbardston before the Revolution, and in 1775 was a delegate to the 
Provincial Congress held at Cambridge. His son, William, married Hannah 
Smith of Rutland in 1776; he was a soldier in William Mareau's company 
of Colonel Doolittle's regiment which marched on the Lexington alarm in 
April, 1775. William Smith Clark, father of the subject of this sketch, 
married Elizabeth, daughter of Lieutenant Samuel Clark, Her father was 
also a Revolutionary soldier. 

Jonas G. Clark remained on his father's farm until he was eighteen, 
receiving such educational advantages as the country schools afforded. 
He then learned the carriage-makers' trade, which calling he pursued 
several years, finally removing to Boston and establishing a number of 
stores for the sale of his carriages. 

In 1836 ilr. Clark married Susan W. Wright of Hubbardston, who has 
been the constant companion of her husband through life, and has accom- 
panied him in all his travels. 

In 1853, during the period of the gold excitement, !Mr. Clark removed to 
California and engaged in enterprises which resulted' successfully. The 
greater part of his fortune, however, was made after his return to New 
York five years later. During his early life he had cherished a desire to 
travel, which abundant means enabled him to gratify, and he spent several 
years in exploring Europe and the distant East, inspecting the results of 
modern civilization and viewing the ruins of the old. With definite pur- 
pose to bestow his large wealth in such manner as would best confer benefit 
upon his own people and nation, he studied European institutions to dis- 
cover the proper method to bring this result into practical form, and after 
long and careful consideration announced his purpose to found a university 
which would afiford American youth the advantages of a training embracing 
the most desirable features of French, German and American institutions 
of learning. 

( )n his return t(j America, Mr. Clark established his residence in Worces- 
ter, and erected on Elm street the elegant mansion which he has occupied, 
and in addition built two large and substantial business blocks, and made 
other investments, preliminary, it would seem, to the grand object in view 
of locating here the university which he had in mind. The details of his 
plan he made public in 1887, and the transfer to trustees of the site and the 
erection of the buildings followed, and the university was opened October 
2, 1889. To sustain the institution he provided the munificent endowment 
of $2,000,000. 

The purpose of the university is to afford means and opportunity for the 
highest education and original research. Unlike any other university, it 



J 




WILLIAM L. CLARK. 



The Worcester of 1898. 585 

has no distinctively undergraduate departments. It aims to increase the 
sum of human knowledge, and transmit the highest culture of one genera- 
tion to the ablest youth of the next. 

The above is only one of Mr. Clark's benefactions. To his'native town 
he has given a fine library and town building, which he has supplied from 
time to time with books and other accessories. His private library of rare 
books will become the property of the university. 

Mr. Clark presents an example of the strong New England character, in 
which thrift and shrewdness are combined with breadth of view, ability to 
achieve and execute, a purpose to bestow upon mankind the results of 
individual effort and earnest endeavor, of which his is not the only instance. 

William Leonard Clark, son of Leonard and Eunice (Gleason) Clark, was 
born in Worcester December 29, 1S19. He was descended in the eighth 
generation from Hugh Clark, the emigrant, who was born in England in 
1613, and came to America sometime previous to the year 1641, through 
John," John,^ Isaac, ^ John," William," Leonard.' At the time of the birth of 
William L., his father kept a country tavern and store at Adams square, 
in buildings which are still standing. In 1828 Leonard Clark and his family 
removed to Hubbardston, and again a year later to Rutland, where the 
subject of this sketch remained until he was sixteen years of age, receiving 
such advantages of education as the country district schools afforded, and 
at work on the farm. 

In 1835 his mother died, and soon after, William returned to Worcester 
and engaged with General Nathan Heard to work upon his farm, remaining 
in this situation nearly three years. On the first day of April, 1838, he was 
employed by Colonel James Estabrook in his grocery store (in the owner- 
ship of which Edwin Conant and William Barker were interested) in the 
building at the corner of Lincoln square and Union street, which (1898) is 
occupied as a grain-store. Here he continued until April, 1840, when he 
formed a co-partnership with James Whittemore for the purpose of carry- 
ing on the grocery business and also the manufacture of shoes, but these 
undertakings were not successful, and the connection was within a year 
and a half dissolved. For most of the time during the next three years he 
worked in a grocery-store for Francis Harrington in what was then Granite 
ruw. 

Mr. Clark, in April, 1846, opened a grocery in company with Benjamin 
Reed, in the store in Granite row previously occupied by Horace B. Clafiin 
in the dry-goods trade. Mr. Clark bought the interest of Mr. Reed in 1857, 
and continued in the business until 1868, when he finally retired, with the 
intention of engaging in the flour and grain business, but while looking for 
a location, he was, in February, 1869, elected an assessor of the city, and 
served by successive re-elections for twelve years, ten years of which time 
he was chairman of the board. In 18S1 and 1882 he was a member of the 
Legislature, and an alderman in 1S83. In the discharge of the duties of 
these various offices, he exhibited sound judgment, business ability, tact 
and common sense — qualities rare in combination, and which gained for 
him the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. During the last 



586 . Thb Worcester of 1898. 

twenty years his services have been often solicited and rendered in the 
appraisal of real estate, both by private parties and corporations, and most 
of his time has been divided between this work, the settlement and care of 
large estates, and his own personal interests. He was a trustee of the 
Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank for twenty-one years, all of the time 
as a member of the Finance Committee and one of the appraisers of real 
estate. He was one of the Building Committee of the block owned and 
occupied by that institution. 

A man of social instincts, he was a member of the Commonwealth and 
Hancock Clubs and a 32° Mason. 

He was an active member of the Worcester County Mechanics Associa- 
tion, the Worcester County Agricultural Society, The Worcester Society of 
Antiquity, and an honorary member of the Worcester Continentals and 
George H. Ward Post 10, Grand vVrmy of the Republic. 

Mr. Clark became a memlier of the First Congregational, or Old South, 
Church of Worcester in 1.S3S. ^md continued in that connection until the 
formation of Plymouth Church, of which he was one of the original mem- 
bers, and which he attended to the close of his life. He was one of the 
Building Committee and a benefactor of the church. 

Mr. Clark cast his first vote in 1840 for Harrison and Tyler, and has 
voted at every presidential election since that date, supporting successively 
the Whig, Free-Soil and Republican nominees. 

Mr. Clark married, December 19, 1843, Lucretia Flagg, daughter of 
Roland and Anna Clark Parkhurst of Hubbardston. She died August 22, 
1892. Of this marriage the (juIv child was born, and died the same day. 
He lived at his late place of residence on Walnut street forty-seven years, 
having moved but once previously. 

In the transaction of business, Mr. Clark showed no diminution of activ- 
ity, and was as ready in response to the many calls upon his time and 
attention to within a few days of his death as in former years. Blessed 
with a measure of success seldom realized in worldly matters, he possessed 
what is still more valuable, a kindly heart and a cheerful disposition, which 
enabled him to endure the rubs of life to some purpose, and which endeared 
him to a host of friends. 

Mr. Clark died suddenly December i6, 1898. 

Josiah Howe Clarke,* son of Benjamin and Lucy (Howe) Clarke, was born in 
Maril)iii-(iugh, ^lassachusetts, on the 26th of December, 1827. He received 
his education in the public schools of his native town and at Leicester 
Academy, and at the age of twenty engaged in the dry-goods business in 
Marlborough as a member of the firm of Bucklin, Clarke & Co. In 1850 he 
removed to Worcester, and in 1853 established the well-known dry-goods 
store of which he remained the head until he retired from active business 
management in 1897, a period of forty-four years. 

Mr. Clarke has large financial interests outside of his dry-goods business, 
lie is or has been a director of the Worcester National Bank; a trustee and 
a member of the Finance Committee of the State Mutual Life Assurance 



*See portrait on page 416. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



587 



Company; a director of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad Company, 
Worcester & Shrewsbury Railroad Company, Worcester Gas Light Com- 
pany, State Safe Deposit Company, McKay Shoe Machinery Company, 
Boston; Union Trimmer Company, Boston; a director and vice-president 
of the Sherman Envelope Company; and trustee of tiie Worcester County 
Institution for Savings. 

In religion he is an Episcopalian, and has been vestryman of All Saints' 
Church for more than a quarter of a century. He was a member of the 
City Council in 1862. He is fond of travel, and in 1865 made a voyage 
around the world, remaining some time at Foo Chow with his brother, who 
was consul at that port. In recent years he has visited California and 
various parts of Europe, and in 1898 he journeyed to the far East, the 
itinerary including Germany, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and the Nile. 

Mr. Clarke married, in 1858, Frances C. , daughter of Horace and Mary 
(Woodworth) Ayres. Four children were born to them : ]\Iary Woodworth 
and Fanny Ayres, now living, and Josiah Howe, Jr., and Grace Howe, 
deceased. 

Loring Goes. Of those whose ingenuity and enterprise have assisted in 
developing the industrial resources of Worcester, no name is more familiarly 
known than that of Loring Coes. His business career, in certain particu- 
lars, affords a parallel instance to that of his near neighbor, Albert Curtis. 
He also is a native of Worcester, and he is to-day living, at an age greatly 




RESIDENCE OF LORING COES, 1049 MAIN STREET. 




LORING GOES. 



The Worcester of 1898. 589 

exceeding the Scriptural allotment, in contemplation of the results of a life 
of industry and usefulness. Born April 22. 181 2, in that part of the town 
now known as New Worcester, his early life was passed upon his father's 
farm. He received few educational advantages, attending school only 
during the winter months, and at the age of fourteen years was apprenticed 
to learn the carpenters' trade. After reaching his majority he was em- 
ployed in making the wooden parts of woolen machinery by different 
manufacturers in Worcester, and finally with his brother, Aury G. , bought 
put the firm of Kimball & Fuller at the old Court Mills. Their establishment 
was destroyed by fire in 1838, and the brothers found employment at 
Springfield as pattern-makers. Here was invented the improved wrench 
which they afterwards for so many years successfully manufactured. The 
improvement consisted in the application of a screw so that the wrench 
could be held and adjusted with one hand. In 1840 the brothers returned 
to Worcester, and soon after began the manufacture, under a patent, with 
the firm name of L. & A. G. Goes. The business afterwards included 
shear-blades and tempered knives. The brothers dissolved in 1869, and 
the business was divided. 

Mr. Goes has served in both the Gommon Gouncil and Board of Aldermen. 
He was a representative to the General Court in 1885-6. He is a director 
of the City Bank, and has other large financial interests. In 1864 he mar- 
ried Harriet N. R. Reed, and they have had four children. 

Reverend A. Z. Conrad, D. D.,* pastor of the First or " Old South " Church in 
Worcester,' was born near Shiloh, Indiana, November 26, 1855. His father, 
the Reverend J. E. Conrad, a Presbyterian minister, removed with his family 
to Minnesota in 1S56, and in that State the subject of this sketch received 
his early education and grew to manhood. At the age of seventeen he 
engaged in teaching, and followed that vocation until in 1874 he entered 
the preparatory department of Garleton College, where he remained three 
years. He then followed the prescribed four years' classical course of that 
institution, and was graduated with high honors in the class of 1882. In 
both the freshman and junior "prize debates" he won the first prize. 
He then entered Union Theological Seminary in New York city, and, 
graduating in 1885, immediately became pastor of the Ainslie Street Pres- 
byterian Church in Brooklyn, having received a unanimous call to that 
station before he left the seminary. Here his uncommon abilities as a 
preacher were soon recognized, and large audiences were attracted ; the 
church was greatly strengthened in membership and prosperity, over four 
hundred persons uniting with it during his five years' pastorate. In this- 
relation he continued with increasing success and popularity until 1890, 
when he accepted a unanimous call from the Old South Congregational 
Church in Worcester, and was installed on the 6th of November of that 
year. 

In this city the same qualities by which he was distinguished in Brooklyn 
have been manifested in an eminent degree, and have drawn and retained 



' See portrait on page 2S4. 



590 The Worcester of 1898. 

a large and loyal following. His influence and popularity with the young 
people are unexampled. He is a strong advocate of societies in the church, 
and has brought about a thorough organization in every department of 
work. His eloquence and power as a preacher are universally acknowl- 
edged, while in the management of the affairs of his church and in the 
discharge of all the duties of a Christian minister, he has demonstrated his 
wisdom, efficiency and faithfulness. 

Doctor Conrad uses no manuscript in the pulpit, and never has. When he 
took up his duties in Brooklyn he even had the pulpit removed and preached 
from the pulpit platform, as he does at present. He spends every day, up 
to two o'clock, in his study; the afternoons he devotes to his parish calls, 
for he is an indefatigable visitor. In preparing his sermons he first of all 
gets his material thoroughly in mind, and then makes a rough outline of 
the discourse. He then dictates his sermons into a graphophone, from 
which they are taken by his secretary, and when they are typewritten and 
brought back to him he studies them thoroughly, making such emen- 
dations as he considers desirable. He then makes another outline of the 
same sermons, and this outline he commits thoroughly to memory, using 
his [ihraseology before the congregation to suit the occasion. 

In his preaching as in his conversation, his utterance is rapid, but never 
unintelligible. A ready, fluent diction and a graceful form of speech make 
Doctor Conrad distinctively one of the eloquent preachers of the city. His 
church, absolutely united, is now the largest in Worcester, and one of the 
largest in the State. Over iSoo members have been added during the 
present pastorate. An advance in his salary in the sum of a thousand 
dollars proffered by the parish in 1S97 was promptly declined, on the 
ground that the church needed to increase its benevolences. 

Doctor Conrad was married August 26, 1886, to Miss Harriet N. Adams of 
Maine, a woman of literary and musical culture, to whose extraordinary 
capabilities he attributes a great deal of his success. 

Mrs. Conrad is a composer of recognized ability, both of sacred and 
sectilar music, and an active member of the Friday Morning Club. In 
1887, while the church edifice in Brooklyn was being enlarged, he took an 
extended European trip with Mrs. Conrad. They have traveled exten- 
sively in the United States. In recognition of scholarship, the following 
degrees have been conferred upon him: Bachelor of Arts, 1882; Master of 
Arts, 1885; Doctor of Philosophy, 1891; Doctor of Divinity, 1892. 

He is a corporate member of the American Board, president of the 
Worcester Congregational Club during 1898, and was honored as the 
preacher of the sermon at the State Association meeting of 1898. 

Ellery Bicknell Crane* was born in the town of Colebrook, Coos county, 
New Hampshire, November 12, iS,:i6. He is the son of Robert Pnulen and 
Almira Paine Bicknell Crane, and of the seventh generatinii of the descend- 
ants of Henry Crane of Wethersfield and (niilford, Connecticut, and of the 
•eighth generation descended from Zachary Bicknell of Weymouth. Both 

*See portrait on page 262. 



The Worcester of 1898. 591 

his ancestors came from England to New England early in the seventeenth 
century, the former about 1640, the latter in 1636. 

The father of Mr. Crane moved from New Hampshire to Wisconsin in 
iSj;;, and was one of the earliest settlers in the town of Beloit, where the 
subject of this sketch received his education in the common schools, Beloit 
Seminary and the preparatory department of Beloit College. For a time 
he was employed as bookkeeper in the office of a Beloit lumber merchant. 

In 1 860 he made the trip overland to California, and remained two years 
on the Pacific coast. In 1863 he returned to the East, and was engaged 
until 1867 in the lumber business in Boston. The latter year he came to 
Worcester and opened a lumber yard in partnership with Jonathan C. 
French, and after a few years became sole proprietor of the business, which 
he has conducted to the present time. 

During his residence in Worcester, Mr. Crane has been active in public 
affairs, and has advanced in political office to his present position as senator 
for the First Worcester District. He was for nine years a member of the 
Republican City Committee, serving one year as chairman. He has been a 
member of both branches of the City Council, and in 1895 was elected a 
representative in the General Court, and was reelected to serve in 1896. 
He is now serving his second term in the Senate. In the House he was a 
member of the Committees on Constitutional Amendments and Election 
Laws, and in the upper branch on Election Laws, Roads and Bridges, 
Street Railways and Taxation, serving as chairman of the latter committee 
in 1897, and chairman of Committee on Parishes and Religious Societies 
in 1898. 

Mr. Crane is a prominent member of the Mechanics Association, and 
was its president in iSgo and 1891. He was three years president of the 
Builders' Exchange and also for three years president of the Sons and 
Daughters of New Hampshire. He is one of the directors of the Board of 
Trade. 

Mr. Crane is deeply interested in genealogical studies, and has published 
histories of the Rawson and Crane families. He was an early member of 
The Worcester Society of Antiquity, was vice-president from 1877 to 1881, 
and its president for twelve years, from January, 1881, declining a reelection 
for 1893. He now holds the position of vice-president for the second time; 
and it is largely due to his efforts that the society is established upon its 
present basis. In religion he is a Unitarian, and he has been an attendant 
at the Church of the Lenity for many years. 

Mr. Crane married, in 1859, Miss Salona Aldrich Rawson, a descendant 
in the eighth generation from Edward Rawson, secretary of Massachusetts 
Ray Colony. They have one son, Morton Rawson Crane, who is engaged 
in business with his father. 

Albert Curtis,* a son of Samuel and Eunice Curtis, was born in Worcester 
July 13, 1807. He was one of a large family, and in consequence of the 
death of his father was early obliged to depend upon his own exertions. 



*See portrait on page 44S. 



592 The Worcester of 1898. 

He passed his youtliful life on the farm of his uncle in Auburn, and at the 
age of seventeen entered the employment of White & Boyden, manufac- 
turers of woolen machinery at South Worcester as an apprentice, working 
with them several years after he attained his majority. After a short 
residence in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, lie returned to Worcester, and with 
John Simmons and Abel Kimball began the manufacture of machinery used 
in the various processes of production of woolen cloths, establishing the 
business in the location at New Worcester occupied by him and his partners 
ever since. In 1842 his factory was destroyed by fire, and was at once 
rebuilt. He also occupied and operated the mill at Trowbridgeville for the 
manufacture of cotton sheetings, and at different times engaged in the 
manufacture of satinets and horse blankets, of late years in partnership 
with Edwin T. Marble. He acquired a handsome competence, and at the 
great age of ninety-one closed a useful and honorable career. 

Mr. Curtis was a man of kindly disposition and open generosity, but 
naturally diffident, and shimning ostentation. He was a large benefactor 
of the Old Men's Home, the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian 
Associations, and of the Union Church, of which he was for many years 
a member. His gifts in other directions were also large and numerous. 
He built Curtis Chapel at Hope cemetery, and presented it to the city. 
He was a great. reader, and was much interested in the history of his 
native town and city. He was for some years a vice-president and was an 
honorary member of The Worcester Society of Antiquity. All matters of 
public concern claimed his attention, though his quiet tastes and retiring 
nature generally caused him to avoid public life. 

Mr. Curtis was a member of the old town government, serving as select- 
man in the board of 1 840-1 841. He was also a member of the first Common 
Council of the city in 1848, and was an alderman in 1857. 

Mr. Curtis married, in 1833, Mrs. Sally K. Griffin, who died leaving no 
children. He married, in 1880, the widow of Reverend David Bancroft, 
whom he outlived. He died suddenly July 27, 1898. 

Edward Livingston Davis,* son of Isaac and Mary H. (Estabrook) Davis, 
was born in Worcester April 22, 1834. He was educated in the public 
schools of Worcester and at Brown University, graduating from the latter 
institution in the class of 1854. He studied law in his father's office and at 
the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1857. He gave 
up the practice of the law the following year, and engaged in the manu- 
facture of railroad-iron and car-wheels until the year 1882, when he retired 
from the Washburn Iron Company, of which he had been treasurer since 
its organization. 

Mr. Davis was a member of the Common Cc)uncil of Worcester three 
years from 1865, and was president of that body in 1867. In December of 
1873 he was elected mayor of Worcester, to serve the following year. 
Under his administration public improvements were carried on, notably the 
construction of a portion of Park a\cnuc, the value and necessity of which 



^See portrait on page 54. 



The Worcester of 1898. 593 

have since been recognized. While holding this office, Mr. Davis saw the 
growing need of the city for additional parks and play-grounds, which he 
has since in another official capacity, and privately, so efficiently helped to 
supply. 

In 1876 Mr. Davis was a member of the ^lassachusetts Senate. Since 
that time, with the exception of his present service as chairman of the 
Board of Park Commissioners and chairman of the Commissioners of the 
Sinking Funds, he has held no public office. 

In 1884 Mr. Davis presented to the city of Worcester a tract of land on 
the shore of Lake Quinsigamond, comprising sixty acres, which with the 
portion given by Mr. Horace H. Bigelow, forms Lake park. In addition, 
Mr. Davis gave the sum of $5,000, which was immediately used for the 
development of the park. He has also erected a stone tower of picturesque 
form, and has made other additions whii-h have greatly increased the 
attractiveness of this locality. 

Mr. Davis is a member of several social, literary and other organizations 
in Worcester. He was president of the Worcester County Musical Associa- 
tion from 1888 to 1894, and is a generous benefactor of that institution. 
He is a director of the Boston & Albany, Norwich & Worcester, and Ver- 
mont & Massachusetts railroads, of the Worcester National Bank, and one 
of the vice-presidents of the W^orcester County Institution for Savings; a 
councilor of the American Antiquarian Society, and president <if the Pro- 
prietors of Rural Cemetery. 

In religious faith he is an Episcopalian, and has long been senior warden 
of All Saints' Parish. While the present church was building, from 1874 
to 1877, he was chairman of the Building and Finance Committees, and 
contributed generously both in time and money. He has repeatedly repre- 
sented the parish in the Diocesan Convention, and has been for several 
years a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese, and four times 
one of the four lay deputies of the Diocese to the general convention of 
the church. 

Mr. Davis married, first, in 1859, Hannah Gardner, daughter of Seth 
Adams, Esquire, of Providence, Rhode Island, who died in i86r. Their 
only child, a son, survived her but a few days. He married, in 1869, Maria 
Louisa, yoimgest daughter of the Reverend Chandler Robbins, I). D., of 
Boston. 

They have two daughters, Eliza Frothingham (]Mrs. Henry Forbes 
Bigelow of Boston) and Theresa (Mrs. A. Winsor Weld of Chestnut Hill, 
Massachusetts), and a son, Livingston. 

Isaac Davis,* son of Phineas and Martha (Eager) Davis, was born in 
Xorthborough, Massachusetts, June 2, 1799. He was descended in the 
seventh generation from Dolor Davis, the progenitor of the family in New 
England. Isaac was the fourth in a family of eleven children, and his 
parents, burdened with the support of a large household, were unable to afford 
him educational advantages other than those to be obtained in the common 

*See portrait on page 28. 
3S 



594 The Worcester of 1898. 

district schools. Having received an injury which for a time disabled 
him from assisting his father in his occupation as tanner and currier, he 
resolved to prepare himself for a professional life. He was obliged to 
depend largely on his own exertions for support and the cost of his educa- 
tion, but he courageously overcame all difficulties, and, after pursuing the 
necessary course at Leicester and Lancaster Academies, entered Brown 
University in i8i8, and was graduated with honor in 1822. By teaching 
school in winter, and giving lessons in penmanship, he was able to meet 
the expenses of his college training, and soon after his graduation was 
appointed tutor in the university at a salary of $400, which enabled him to 
begin the study of law under the direction of General Carpenter, then one 
of the leaders of the Rhode Island bar. After a few months he removed to 
Worcester, and entered the office of Levi Lincoln and John Davis, the 
latter his uncle, as a student, maintaining himself in part by copying 
deeds in the ofifice of the register. He was admitted to the bar in 1825. 

His success was remarkable, and the labor which his constantly growing 
practice required was beyond the capacity of most men. 

With clear foresight and strong faith in the future prosperity and growth 
of Worcester, his surplus earnings were sagaciously invested in real estate 
and in the stock of industrial and financial corporations, and thus was laid 
the foundation of the handsome fortune which he transmitted to his family. 
His services as trustee and director of moneyed and other corporations 
were highly valued. He was many years president of the Ouinsigamontl 
Bank, of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company, and of the ^lerchants 
& Farmers Mutual Fire Lisurance Company; a director or stockholder 
in several railroad companies, in the Washburn Iron Company, and other 
industrial companies. He improved frequent (ipportunities of aiding men 
of enterprise and merit, and if his judgment approved the risk, his assist- 
ance had no bounds excci)t the limit of his own resources. 

Mr. Davis was through life a consistent adherent and supporter of the 
Democratic party, whose principles he adopted at the outset, manifestly to 
his own disadvantage in a community strongly opposed. He was, however, 
elected to several places of trust and importance. He served the town as 
selectman, and in 1835 was its first chief of the Fire Department. He was 
elected to the State Senate in 1843 and 1.S44. was a member of the lower 
branch of the Legislature in 1852, and of the governor's council in 1853. 
He was mayor of Worcester in 1856, 1858 and 1861. From 1S52 to i860 
he was a member of the State Board of Education, and several years of 
the Board of Visitors of the West Point Military Academy, and its chairman 
in 1855. President Pierce tendered him the office i.if assistant treasurer <it 
the United States, which he declined. The Democratic party three times 
nominated him for governor, and repeatedly sent him as delegate to 
national conventions. 

Mr. Davis was a long-time member and an active worker in the Baptist 
Church, and was prominent in the yearly conventions and other assemblies 
of that denomination. He was president of the American Baptist Home 
Mission Society, and a liberal supporter of all the charitable, educational 



The Worcester of 1898. 595 

and other objects of that religious sect. He was a generous benefactor of 
the Worcester Academy, and was president of its Board of Trustees for 
fort}- years. He was a trustee and fellow of Brown University, and a 
councilor of the American Antiquarian Society, to whose special funds he 
largely contributed. He received the degree of Doctor of Laws from 
Columbia College, Washington, and from Brown University. 

He was a man of great influence in the community, of stately presence 
and of striking personality; grave and dignified, yet courteous and kindly 
with all. 

Mr. Davis married, in 1829, !Mary H., daughter of Joseph Estabrook of 
Royalston, Massachusetts. Of a family of ten children — four sons and six 
daughters — all lived to be married, with the exception of one son, who died 
in infancy. Mrs. Davis died in 1S75; Mr. Davis died April i, 1883. 

William Alexander Denholm, founder of the well-known dry-goods firm 
of Denholm & McKay, was born in Dundee, Scotland, May 8, 1837. His 
father, John Denholm, was a native of Berwick-on-Tweed, Scotland. His 
mother was Jessie Milne of Perth. William was the youngest of eight 
children. Mr. Denholm, Senior, carried on a foundry business in Dundee 
until his death at the age of sixty-one. At his father's death William, then 
thirteen years of age, started his business life in a dry-goods store in 
Glasgow, and a few years later went to London. His progress there was 
marked, for in 1857, when barely twenty, he was sent by his firm to manage 
the New York part of its business. A year later he entered the employ 
of Linder, Kingsley & Company, New York, a white-goods and lace house, 
and became a member of the firm verj- soon. 

On October 3, 1859, he married Grace McLay of Glasgow, Scotland, 
making his home in Brooklyn, New York, for seven years, and afterwards 
residing for five years in Passaic, New Jersey. 

In 1870 Mr. Denholm purchased the dry-goods business of Finley, Law- 
son & Kennedy, located on Main street, corner of Mechanic street, in 
Worcester, Massachusetts. He had for partner William C. McKay of 
Boston, and they proved to be " up-to-date" merchants in every particular, 
as their progress was rapid from the start. They built up an enormous 
business from a small beginning, and after twelve years moved into their 
large quarters in Jonas G. Clark's new block, specially built for them. 

In 1884 Mr. IMcKay died, and the business was bought and carried on by 
Mr. Denholm, and still increased, ranking as the largest store of its kind in 
New England outside of Boston and Providence. 

]\Ir. Denholm was a man of unusual energy and ability, and his success 
excited the admiration of all his contemporaries. In addition to his 
business Mr. Denholm engaged in many outside affairs. He was a director 
of the First National Bank and of the Worcester Electric Light Company; 
a Mason, Odd Fellow and Continental ; active in the cause of temperance 
and in Y. M. C. A. work; a prominent member of the Old South Church, 
and an indefatigable student. 

!Mr. and Mrs. Denholm had a family of five children: Elizabeth, wife of 
Edward L. Smith; Jessie C, wife of John (i. Howland of Bridgeport, 




WILLIAM A. DENHOLM. 



The Worcester of 1898. 597 

Connecticut; Grace P., wife of Harry A. Cook; William James, a graduate 
of Harvard, '97, who married Mabel E. Norcross; and John A., a member 
of the class of '99, Harvard. 

Mr. Denholm died March 2, 1S91, at the age of 53 years, 10 months, 
his wife and children surviving him. 

Francis Henshaw Dewey,* son of the late Honorable Francis H. and Sarah 
B. (Tufts) Dewey, was born in Worcester March 2^, 1856. His father was 
for twelve years a justice of the Superior Court of the vState, and his grand- 
father occupied for thirty years a seat on the Supreme Court bench. 

The subject of this sketch received his early education in private schools in 
Worcester, and then spent four years at St. Mark's School in vSouthborough 
preparing for college. He entered Williams College in 1872, and was graduated 
four years later as one of the six highest in his class and a member of the 
Phi Beta Kappa Society, in which membership is determined by scholarship. 
In 1879 he received the degree of Master of Arts from his Alma Mater. 

He began the study of law in the ofifice of Staples & Goulding, and later 
entered the Harvard Law School, from which he was graduated in 1878 with 
the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to practice in February, 

1879, and has followed his profession to the present time. He is a vice- 
president of the Worcester County Bar Association. 

On the death of his father in 1887, Mr. Dewey was chosen to succeed him 
as trustee of the Worcester Mechanics Savings Bank and director in the 
Mechanics National Bank, having been solicitor for those institutions since 

1880. In April, 1888, he was elected president of the National Bank, which 
position he has ably filled ever since. He is also president of the Worcester 
Consolidated Street Railway Company, and has been for many years a 
director of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad Company, the Worcester Gas 
Light Company, the Worcester Traction Company, the Worcester Theatre 
Association, and the Proprietors of the Bay State House, being also treasurer 
of the two last-named companies, and is connected with various other 
corporations. He is vice-president of the Art Museum, and also a director 
of the Board of Trade, and a trustee of several large estates. 

Mr. Dewey has been prominently identified for many years with the First 
Unitarian Parish, and has been superintendent of the Sunday school, and 
chairman of the Parish Committee. He is interested in works of benevolence, 
and is a director in the Associated Charities. He is a member of the 
American Antiquarian Society, and of several other societies and clubs. 

Mr. Dewey was married in 1878 to Lizzie D., daughter of the late 
Harrison Bliss, and has two children. Politically he is a Republican, and 
although he has a number of times been solicited to accept public office, has 
declined, as he preferred to devote himself to his profession and to his 
private business. 

William H. Dexter, son of John B. and Lucinda (Mclntire) Dexter, was 
born in Charlton, Massachusetts, January 11, 182;,. His father was an 
enterprising builder and contractor, and was also engaged in general 



* See portrait on page 374. 




WILLIAM H. DEXTER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



599 



merchandise business. He was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts, in 
1797, and died in Worcester in 1867. The famih^ descended from Gregory 
Dexter, one of the companions of Roger Williams when he founded 
Providence Plantations in 1636-7. 

William H. Dexter was educated in the schools of his native town, and at 
the age of fourteen was with his father as an assistant in his store. Soon 
after he was employed as a clerk at Burrillville, Rhode Island, remaining in 
that place about two years, and then resumed duty with his father for a 
short time. He then went to Boston as a clerk in a general merchandise 




RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM H. DEXTER, 3 CHARLTON STREET. 

establishment. Here he acquired a good knowledge of business, and, having 
secured the necessary capital, he came to Worcester in 1846 and opened a 
grocery store on Southbridge street, the first store of its kind off Main street. 
This he managed with success for five years, and then he engaged in the 
wholesale and retail flour and grain business near the corner of Main and 
Pleasant streets, which proved so profitable that three years later he erected 
a tine four-story block on Main street, above Park street, and removed his 
luisiness to it. The land he purchased of Judge Charles Allen for one dollar 
a foot, which was then considered an extravagant price, but Mr. Dexter's 
business sagacity was vindicated in 1893, when he sold the same property for 
thirteen dollars a foot. In course of time he carried on the largest flour and 
grain business in Worcester county, and his reputation for integrity and 
high commercial standing was widespread. 



6oo The Worcester of 1898. 

In 1877, having acquired a handsome fortune, Mr. Dexter disposed of his 
flour and grain business, and devoted himself to the care and development 
of his extensive real-estate interests. The building up of Franklin square 
is largely due to his example. Five large blocks, the most notable of which 
was the Franklin building, a brownstone structure costing over $300,000 in 
1872, were erected by him at a time when, to take the initiative, required 
more courage and confidence in the growth of the south end of the city than 
it would at present. But his clear foresight and sound judgment have been 
proved by the great profit which his investments have returned him. 
Franklin square was named by him. 

Mr. Dexter never sought public honors, but his fellow citizens woukl gladly 
have availed themselves of his valuable aid in public affairs to a much 
greater extent if the demands of his private business would have permitted 
him to yield to their desires. From 1873 to 1878 he w^as a member of the 
City Council, and for three years served on the School Board. He was an 
originator of the First National Fire Insurance Company, twenty-four years 
a director and two years vice-president, resigning to devote himself to his 
real-estate interests. 

But it is as a philanthropist and a public-spirited man that Mr. Dexter is 
most esteemed. His benefactions and his valuable services to the Worcester 
Academy as trustee and treasurer will be remembered as long as that 
institution shall remain, and his name is perpetuated in the fine dormitory 
known as Dexter Hall. To the interests of the academy, Mr. Dexter has 
unselfishly devoted himself for nearly tw'enty-five years. He is a liberal 
benefactor and supporter of the Main Street Baptist Church. In 1892 he 
gave $5,000 to the United States Government to help purchase a site for 
the post-ofifice building; and in all matters of public concern he feels a deep 
interest. 

Personally he is a man of kindly and genial nature, and may be charac- 
terized as a gentleman of the old school without implying that he is in any 
way opposed to the real progress of the age, or does not fully enter into the 
spirit of this aspiring time. 

Mr. Dexter married, in 1848, Eliza A. Foss of Livermore, Maine. Their 
only child, a daughter, died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Dexter reside in a 
beautiful mansion, surrounded by attractive grounds, at the corner of Main 
and Charlton streets. 

Thomas H. Dodge was born at Eden, Vermont, on the 27th day of 
September, 1823. His early life was passed on the farm, with such 
educational advantages as the country district schools afforded. When he 
was fourteen years of age, his parents removed to Nashua, New Hampshire, 
and soon after he entered the employment of the Nashua Manufacturing 
Company, where he acquired a thorough knowledge of cotton-carding, 
spinning, dressing and weaving as well as a complete understanding of the 
machinery and methods used in the business. He invented and introduced 
several valuable improvements and innovations which attracted much 
attention at the time. He not only possessed a natural aptitude in mechan- 
ics, but he was endowed with a genius which enabled him to quickly com- 



The Worcester of 1898. 601 

prehend and overcome difficulties which with others required much studv, 
time and labor. Such a man would not long remain an employee, but 
would make a position for himself. 

While working in the cotton mill. !Mr. Dodge continued his studies, and 
at times attended the public and academic schools in Nashua and elsewhere; 
and finally taking up the study of law, while pursuing the study of Latin 
under a private tutor, was admitted to practice in Manchester, New Hamp- 
shire in 1854. In the meantime several important inventions, and a treatise 
on the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods, had brought him into 
prominence. In March, 1855, he was appointed assistant examiner of 
patents by Commissioner Mason, and removed to Washington. He was 
soon after made chief examiner, and later became chairman of the Board 
of Appeals under Commissioner Holt, which office he resigned in the fall 
of 1858, and in reference to the letter of the commissioner of patents in 
accepting Mr. Dodge's resignation, the venerable editor-in-chief of the 
Xatioial Intelligencer, Washington, District of Columbia, declared that no 
public officer, resigning, had ever received from his superior such a touch- 
ing and heartfelt tribute as that paid by Commissioner Holt to ]\Ir. 
Dodge. 

Mr. Dodge was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United 
States, and during the twenty-five years from 1858 to 1883 was engaged in 
large and lucrative legal practice, mostly in cases relating to patent inter- 
ests. During this time, he was also connected with several manufacturing 
enterprises, notably agricultural machinery and barbed-wire fencing. He 
removed to Worcester in 1864, and has since that date made this city his 
home. In 1883 he retired from active business, and has devoted himself 
of late years to the care and enjoyment of his estates. 

Many of the great public and industrial improvements of the past fifty 
years have been impressed by the mark of his forethought and genius, and 
a few that have proved of vast benefit to the public generally may be 
briefly alluded to. In 1850 he realized the disadvantages of the imperfect 
and slow methods, then in use, for printing paper, and the result of his 
studies was the production of a printing-press to print from a roll of paper, 
and the publicity of this invention, which was a great success, was the 
beginning of a new era in machinery for printing paper, which resulted or 
culminated in the production of the lightning presses of the present day, in 
which the blank paper is fed direct from the roll. 

In 1856, then residing in Washington, District of Columbia, he became 
interested in the "dead-letter" branch of the General Post Office Depart- 
ment, and proposed to General Skinner, assistant postmaster-general, to 
have the letters returned to the writers, when not taken from the post 
office to which they were directed, instead of being sent to the dead-letter 
office, and on the 8th of August, 1856, a written description of his plan 
(identical with that now in use) was submitted to Honorable James Camp- 
bell, postmaster-general, and although for sometime it was opposed by 
some officials and members of Congress, it struck the public ear favorably, 
and in time received the sanction of law, and the present generation 




THOMAS H. DODGE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 603; 

receives and enjoys the benefits and the advantages resulting from the 
change. 

In 1857 the double-hinged bar mowing-machine was first introduced. By 
this construction either end of the finger-bar and cutting apparatus couldi 
rise and fall independently, while the entire finger-bar and cutting appar- 
atus could rise and fall bodily. 

The cutting apparatus could therefore conform freely to the undulations. 
of the ground, and thus cut the grass even and close upon uneven sur- 
faces, but there were found to be serious objections to the machine in 
practical operation, since one man was required to drive the team while 
another man had to walk behind the cutting apparatus to lift it over 
obstructions — this last operation being attended with great danger, even 
though the driver slackened speed for the time being. Mr. Dodge devised 
mechanism whereby the driver from his seat on the machine could have 
full control of the entire finger-bar and cutting apparatus, raising either 
end or the entire cutting apparatus, as occasion might require, and that, 
too, without stopping the machine, thus enabling one man and team to do- 
three times the work, and easier, than could be performed by two men as 
the machine was first made, and it is estimated that during the haying 
season the services of one million and a half of laborers are saved by the 
use of the principles of this invention, which is in general use in this and 
foreign countries. 

!Mr. Dodge is a man of active benevolence and public spirit. His gifts 
of Dodge park to the city and of the tract of land for the Odd Fellows' 
Home, which are more particularly mentioned elsewhere in this volume, 
are sufficient evidence of this. The Natural History Society, Union, Trinity 
Methodist and Piedmont Churches, and other institutions may be named 
among those which have received large benefactions from him. He is a 
man of impressive personality and dignified presence, yet of a genial dis- 
position, finding his chief satisfaction in the contemplation of a past life 
usefully employed. He married, in 1843, ^liss Eliza Daniels of Brookline, 
Xew Hampshire. They have no children. 

Daniel Downey has for many years been a prominent and respected citizen 
of Worcester. He was born in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. His 
father, James Downey, was one of the earliest Irish settlers in that town, 
where he became a substantial and successful farmer, earning also in a high 
degree the confidence and good will of his fellow townsmen. 

The subject of this sketch received his education in the public schools of 
his native town, graduating from the high school. He then came to 
Worcester and entered the employ of Mr. J. H. Clarke, where he remained for 
some years. After a year's absence in St. Louis, he returned and engaged 
as salesman with A. P. Ware & Co., now the Ware-Pratt Company. For 
twenty-five years his faithful services were given to this firm, and he always 
enjoyed the confidence of his employers. 

On the I St of September, 1893, Mr. Downey started business for himself, 
having made an honorable record in the service of others. He opened a 
clothing-store in the Knowles building, at the corner of Main and Chatham 



604 



The Worcester of iJ 




DANIEL DOWNEY. 



streets, and at once took rank among 
the liest and most respectable menhants 
of the cit\-. 

During his residence in Worcester he 
has always taken a lively interest in every- 
thing that pertained to the city's growth 
and de\-elopment. Being a lover of ath- 
letic sports, he has been interested in 
nearly all the great sporting events that 
have taken place in the last quarter of a 
century. 

He is a vice-president of the Worcester 
Musical Association, a director in the Bay 
State Savings Bank, a member of the 
liiiard of Trade, a trustee of St. \'incent's 
Hospital, and for many years he has been 
the director of the choir of St. Paul's 
Church. 
Mr. Downey married Miss Mary L. Power of Boston. Her father. Richard 
Power, was at the time of his death the oldest marble dealer in Massachu- 
setts, having carried on the business for more than fifty years. Mrs. Downey 
is a lady of marked musical culture and ability. Three children — two boys 
and a girl — have been the fruit of this happy marriage. Their pleasant 
home on Piedmont street is always open to a wide circle of friends. 

Edwin Draper, son of Zenas and Icinima (Allen) Draper, was born in 
Spencer, Massachusetts, January 20, 1809. He was one of a family of nine 
children, descendants in the seventh generation from James, called "the 
Puritan," who came to Massachusetts from the town of Hepstonstall, 
Yorkshire, England, in 1647, settled in Dedham, and was also one of the 
proprietors of the town of Lancaster, thrdugh James'", James'', James'', 
John'^, Zenas°. Edwin Draper was brought up mi his father's farm, with 
such education as could be obtained at that period in the district schools of 
his native town. When he arrived at his majority he left home and came 
to Worcester, and by his own efforts during the next few years established 
himself in trade, forming in 1841 a co-partnership with John S. Clark in 
the wholesale flour and grain business, in a store on Front street near 
Washington square. At the time of his death this firm had been in business 
continuously longer than any other in Worcester. 

Mr. Draper was a member of the Common Council of the first City 
Government of 1848, and' also served the succeeding year. He was a 
member of the Board of Aldermen in 1S60. In 1864 and 1865 he repre- 
sented Ward 6 in the General Court, where he served both years on the 
important Committees on Claims, and Charitable and Penal Institutions. 
In the movement to introduce water from Lynde brook he took a decided 
stand, and exerted a strong influence in its favor. He was one of the first 
directors of the People's Savings Bank, and was often solicited to accept 
positions (if honor and trust. 



The Worcester of 1898. 605. 

Mr. Draper early identified himself with the temperance cause, and was 
distinguished by his active efforts in behalf of that reform. So prominent 
a part did he take in the agitation of this matter during the decade 1840 
and 1850 and later that he became a marked man, and was the victim of a 
personal assault by the hirelings of those whose unholy traffic in intoxi- 
cating liquors he had been instrumental in suppressing. He also took part 
in the anti-slavery movement in a practical way, was a member of the 
Free-Soil party in 1848, and later of the Republican party. Mr. Draper 
identified himself with Union Church on coming to Worcester, and remained 
there until the necessity for additional accommodations for the increasing 
attendance at the Congregational churches in the centre led to the forma- 
tion of the Salem Street Church. He was an original member of that 
organization, and devoted himself with characteristic energy and unselfish- 
ness to everything which would tend to increase its growth and influence. 
Reverend Merrill Richardson, his pastor at the time of hit" death, paid a 
loving and eloquent tribute to his self-sacrificing labors in behalf of the 
church and his rare worth as a counselor and friend. 

A man <if quick perceptions, of great'executive ability, which enabled him 
to carry to completion projects which would have daunted men of less 
courage and determinatiim, ^Ir. Draper was foremost in everything that 
worked for the public good, and was always ready to contribute of his 
means and strength to help any worthy movement. No service was too 
humble for him to render to the cause he espoused, and no person too lowly 
to receive his sympathy and counsel. He left the memory of a public- 
spirited citizen, a man of business, whose honor and integrity were 
unimpeachable, a steadfast and self-sacrificing friend, a kind husband and 
father, and a true man. His death occurred after an illness of ses^eral 
months, March 29, 1866. 

Of the Worcester County Horticultural Society Mr. Draper was an en- 
thusiastic member, and for more than ten years one of the trustees and 
chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, which offices he held at the 
time of his death. The recital of his services to this association is charac- 
teristic of those he rendered in any cause to which he gave himself. Said 
Edward Winslow Lincoln in his brief eulogy before the members of that 
society: 

"Does Edwin Draper need a eulogy in this presence? Which of you is 
ignorant with what untiring assiduity he applied himself to promote the 
growth of this association, and to develop the results of that growth? How 
he toiled, in season and out of season, to give form and substance to our 
exhibitions? How, never sparing himself, he was willing to assume upon 
his own overburdened shoulders the tasks of others too indolent or selfish 
to emulate an exemplar so active and disinterested? . . . As chairman 
of your Committee of Arrangements he was diligence and punctuality 
itself. All your exhibitions were timely planned and thoroughly ordered. 
There was a place for everything and everything was in its place. 
By whomsoever his place may be supplied in the future, he may well esteem 
himself fortunate if he can rival, in ever so partial a measure, those 




EDWIN DRAPER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 607 

•excellent qualities of head and heart which so commended the late Edwin 
Draper to our judgment and aflfection. " 

Mr. Draper was twice married, first in 1838 to Abigail Richardson, and 
second, in 1845, ^'^ Harriette Porter Healy. Of six children the only 
survivor is Eliza Draper, now the wife of Doctor J. H. Robinson of this city. 

James Draper, son of William A. and Calista (Watson) Draper, was born 
in Worcester August 31, 1842. His father was one of the pioneers in the 
manufacture of boots and shoes in this county, and was afterwards for 
several years in the boot, shoe and leather business with the late Samuel 
Houghton, under the firm name of William A. Draper & Co. In 1854 he 
retired from business and removed to the estate at Blonmingdale which is 
now occupied by his son, and where he died in 1855. 

James was educated in the public schools, and at the age of eighteen began 
his business career as a market-gardener, the high quality of his products 
soon gaining for him a patronage and reputation which were the foundation 
of his present extensive and prosperous business. He was among the earliest 
in this vicinity to engage in the cultivation of small fruits on a large scale 
for the market, and the success that attended this enterprise attracted the 
attention of other gardeners, and a demand for plants sprang up w'hich Mr. 
Draper was ready to meet with a large su[)ply of the varieties which his 
experience found suited to this climate. 

In 1867 he issued his first nursery catalogue. C)ther departments were 
added to that of the small fruits, and which have continually increased till 
the reputation of the Bloomingdale Nurseries has extended all over New 
England, and his collection of the choicest varieties of native and foreign 
fruit and ornamental trees and flowering shrubs and plants ranks among the 
first in this section of the country. 

In 1874 he established the manufacture of cement drain and sewer pipe; a 
few years later the manufacture of artificial stone vases was added, and in 
the year 1889 the plant of the late A. B. Lovell's pipe works was purchased 
and removed to Bloomingdale, largely increasing the capacity of the works. 

The original Draper homestead estate embraced a large portion of the 
land now covered by the villages of Bloomingdale and Lake View. As the 
city developed in that direction, the estate has been divided into smaller 
tracts, and building encouraged as helps in the permanent growth of that 
part of the city. 

His estate now comprises about fifteen acres, which he hasgreatly beautified 
and improved through the exercise of his good taste and sound judgment in 
adapting artificial and external adornments to the natural features of the 
land, his natural fondness for tree and plant life and great familiarity with 
the kinds indigenous to this climate being particularly helpful in this 
direction. With the purpose of developing the region where he lives, he 
was one of the originators and constructors of the Worcester & Shrewsbury 
railroad, the second narrow gauge track in this country, which has recently 
been leased to the Consolidated Street Railway Company. 

Mr. Draper's tendencies and abilities have brought him into many positions 
•of prominence and usefulness among his fellow citizens, and although never 



6oS 



The Worcester of i! 




JAMES DRAPER. 



scilicitDUs (if [)ub!ic office, he has felt it to- 
l)e a duty to render his native city sueli 
service as he was able in the lines of 
wiirk that his education and e.\i)erience 
ha\'e especially fitted him for. He has 
served in the apprtjpriate capacities of 
member of the School Board three years, 
Overseers of the Poor nine years, and 
since 1886 as one of the Commissioners of 
the Public Parks. His services in the 
development of the parks-system, and in 
the planting and care of the shade-trees of 
the city, have been invaluable, the many 
improvements and changes in the great 
Lake park and in East and Crompton 
parks having been very largely the result 
of his able and forceful direction and 
hcl])ful assistance. He has been an active member of the Agricultural and 
Hiirticultural Societies for over twenty-five years, and the special judge in 
the fruit department of the Horticultural .Society for fifteen consecutive 
years; also a trustee of the Massachusetts Agricultural College for fourteen 
years, and one of the originators and the first president of the Massachusetts 
Fruit Growers' Association. He was a master of the Worcester Grange when 
it was organized in 1872, and successfully became master of the State Grange 
and of the National Grange, and is recognized as one of the leaders in the 
order. He is a trustee of the Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank, and of 
the Rural Cemetery Corporation. 

He is also a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the 
Revolution, and is also connected with Morning Star Lodge, F. &- A. M. ; 
with Eureka Royal Arch Chapter, and with the Worcester County Com- 
mandery, Knights Templars. He has been a member of Plymouth 
Congregational Church since its organization, and was one of the founders 
of the Young Men's Christian Association of this city. 

Mr. Draper married, in 1866, Josie C. Dean of Providence, and has six 
children: Alice Gertrude, a teacher in the Bloomingdale school; Efifie B., 
the wife of Wm. L. Smith of the City Engineering Department; Lizette M., 
principal of the Bloomingdale school; Sophie Anna; Sylvia Louise, and 
James Edwin. 

Edward Earle,* son nt Timothy and Ruth (Keese) Earle, and great-great- 
grandson of Ralph Earle, one of the original settlers of Leicester, was 
born in Leicester February 10, 181 1. His father died when he was eight 
years old, and his mother afterwards married her husband's brother Henry, 
who, being an invalid, the care of a large farm and the management of a 
saw-mill devolved upon Edward at an early age. He was educated at the 
district school, Leicester Academy, and at the Friends' School in I^rovi- 

*See portrait on page 4S. 



The Worcester of 1898. 609 

dence. In 183^ he came to Worcester and engaged in the flour and grain 
business, and later entered into partnership with Joseph Pratt under the 
firm name of Pratt & Earle. This was for many years the largest house in 
the iron and steel business in Worcester county, and Mr. Earle maintained 
his interest in it long after the establishment of the card-clothing business 
of T. K. Earle & Co., of which he became the senior member. 

In 1842 Mr. Earle purchased the interest in the card-clothing industry 
owned by his cousin Timothy, and with his brother, Timothy Keese, 
engaged in this manufacture, from which he retired in 1869. After this he 
took no active part in the business, his time being occupied in the manage- 
ment of his real-estate interests and his public and private trusts. 

In 1843 Mr. Earle was elected a selectman of Worcester, and in 185 i was 
a representative in the Legislature and voted for Charles Sumner for sena- 
tor. He was an alderman in 1853, and from 1861 to 1871 a member of the 
School Board. In 187 1 he was elected mayor of the city and served one 
year. He was an honest, faithful and honored public servant. He was 
early interested in the anti-slavery movement, and during the war went 
South as a member of the Friends Committee to look after the welfare of 
the freemen. He was for many years a member of the Board of State 
Charities, and its chairman during his later service. He was one of the 
founders of the American Social Science Association. Through life he was 
a consistent member of the Society of Friends. His death occurred Jlay 
19, 1877. 

Mr. Earle married in 1835 Ann Barker, daughter of David and Susan 
Ann Buffum of Rhode Island. Their only child, Anne Buffum, married in 
1865 James S. R( liters. 

Stephen Carpenter Earle, son of Amos S. and Hannah (Carpenter) Earle, 
was born in Leicester, ^lassachusetts, January 4, 1839. He is a lineal 
descendant of Ralph Earle, who came to New England about the year 1630, 
and whose grandson was one of the first settlers of Leicester. Stephen C. 
was educated in the district school of his native town, the Friends' School 
at Providence, and the Worcester high school. Later he took a course of 
architectural design in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and 
pursued the study of architecture in various architects' offices in New York 
and Worcester. In 1862-1863 he served eleven months in the Union army. 
He was draughtsman at the Hoosac Tunnel for one year, and in 1865-1866 
spent seven months in Europe in improving himself in his profession. He 
opened an office as an architect in Worcester in 1866, and soon after was 
joined by James E. Fuller, with whom he was in partnership ten years, 
under the firm name of Earle & Fuller. From 1876 to 1891 Mr. Earle was 
alone; and then with Clellan W. Fisher established the firm of Earle & 
Fisher, which still continues. From 1872 to 1885 'Slv. Earle had a Boston 
office as well as one in Worcester. 

Mr. Earle has designed a large number of private as well as many nota- 
ble public buildings, among them All Saints'. St. Matthew's, St. Mark's, 
Central, Pilgrim, South Unitarian and Union churches, the new Free Public 
Library, the Polytechnic buildings and the Art Museum in Worcester; 



6io 



The Worcester of 1898. 




STEPHEN C. EARLE. 



Slater ^k-miirial huildinj;', Noi^wich; Iowa 
College Library; Goodnow Hall for the 
Huguenot Seminary in South Africa ; and 
many others. He is a member of the 
American Institute of Architects, and of 
the Worcester Chapter of the institute. 
He is president of the Worcester Coopera- 
tive Bank, and is a member of the Quinsig- 
aniond Boat Club, the Episcopal Church 
Club, the Art Society and the Grand Army 
of the Republic. 

In ])olitics Mr. Earle is a Republican 
anil in religion an Episcopalian, and has 
held \'arii>us offices in All Saints' and St. 
John's churches, and is miw senior warden 
of the latter. 

Mr. Earle married in 1869 Mary L. 
Brown, dauohter of Albert and Mary 
Eaton Brown, late of Worcester, and they have five children: Charles B., 
graduate of Harvard University in 1894; Ralph, a graduate of the United 
States Naval Academy, and now in the service of his country near Cuba; 
Richard B., a graduate of the Worcester Polytechnic School; Ruth S., and 
lulward. 

Timothy Keese Earle.* The name of Earle has been synonymous with 
the card-clothing industry in ^Vnierica for more than a century. To Pliny 
Earle of Leicester belongs the distinction of having made the first machine 
card-clothing in the United States, in supplying the factory of Samuel 
Slater, the pioneer in the manufacture of cotton cloth by machinery in this 
country. The business which Mr. Earle began in a small way has been 
continued in the family from generation to generation. 

Timothy Keese Earle was a son of Henry, a younger brother of Pliny, 
and Ruth Keese, and was born in Leicester January 11, i8j;. He attended 
the public schools and the Academy in Leicester, and also the Friends' 
School in Providence. At sixteen years of age he commenced the business 
of card-making with his uncle, Silas Earle, and in a few years purchased 
this business, which in 1842 he removed to Worcester, and entered into 
partnership with his brother Edward, under the firm name of T. K. Earle 
tS: Co. In 1857 they built the largest factory in America for the manu- 
facture of card-clothing, and with later additions made, it l>ecame much 
larger than any other American establishment of its kind. 

Edward Earle retired in 1869, and was succeeded by T. K. Earle's twin 
brother, Thomas, who died in 1S71. In 187; Edwin Brown, who had 
married a daughter of T. K. liarle. l)ecame a partner. In 1880 a company, 
under the name of the T. K. I'^aide Manufailuring Company, was formed, 
with T. K. Earle as president, and Ivlwin I'.i'own agent and treasurer. 



''See portrait on page 470. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



611 



This company consolidated with the American Card Clothing- Compan)- in 
1 .S90. 

Timothy K. Earle died October i, 1881, at the age of fifty-eight. He 
was the acknowledged head of the card-clothing business in America. 
Uuick to recognize ability in others, and to appreciate what was needed in 
his business, he always associated with himself employees and mechanics of 
the highest ability, and many improvements in the manufacture of card- 
clothing originated in his factory. 

Mr. Earle was a man of strong convictions and firm principles. He was 
a life-long member of the Society of Friends, and was unyielding in his 
opposition to the great wrongs in society, as slavery, intemperance and 
immorality. He was at one time a member of the School Committee of 
Worcester, and was the candidate for lieutenant governor of the Prohibition 
party. He accumulated large wealth, which he judiciously dispensed, and 
died leaving the record of an upright and useful citizen and the memory of 
many good deeds. 

David Hale Fanning, son of Henry Wilson and Sarah (Hale) Fanning, was 
born in Jewett City, in the town of Griswold, Connecticut, August 4, 1830. 
He is descended from two of the earliest and best-kn(^wn families of 
Connecticut. Edmund Fanning, the emigrant ancestor from Limerick, 
Ireland, settled in that part of the colony which is now called Groton as early 




RESIDENCE OF DAVID H. FANNING, 92 WOODLAND STREET. 




DAVID H. FANNING. 



The Worcester of 1898. 613 

as 1653. The line of descent to the subject of this sketch is as follows: 
Edmund', Lieutenant John', John W.^ Captain Thomas\ Thomas, Jr/, 
Henry W.", David H.' The family was distinguished for its patriotism and 
zeal displayed in the early Indian Wars and in the War of the Revolution. 
Some members were noted navigators and explorers, and a great number 
followed a seafaring life. They were prominent in town affairs, and held 
many offices of trust and responsibilit)". 

On his maternal side he is descended from the well-known Hale family. 
Samuel, senior, the first of the name in the Connecticut Colony, was of 
Hartford as early as 1637. Sarah Hale of Glastonbury, Connecticut, mother 
of the subject of this sketch, was a successful school teacher at the time nf 
her marriage to Henry Wilson Fanning. 

David Hale Fanning was the youngest son of nine children, and at the 
early age of seven was left without father and mother. He went to live 
with an older brother, and was educated in the public schools of his native 
village. At the age of sixteen he became restless and ambitious, and 
decided to start out into the world for himself, and with two dollars and a 
half as his only capital, and with all his worldly effects tied up in a pocket 
handkerchief, he went forth to seek his fortune among strangers. He started 
on foot and walked twenty miles the first day, bringing up at night at a 
little country inn in Danielsonville, Connecticut, foot-sore and tired. He 
got his supper, lodging and breakfast for the sum of sixteen cents, and the 
following day wended his way towards Worcester, where he arrived a few 
days later. Worcester was at that time a town of eight to ten thousand 
inhabitants. Not finding employment here, he pushed on to Clinton, where 
he was engaged in mill work for a number of years, returning to Worcester 
for a period in the meantime to learn the machinists' trade. 

In 1853 he went to Groton, now Aver Junction, and opened a country 
store. In 1857 he settled permanently in Worcester, and in 1861 began the 
manufacture of hoop-skirts under the name of Worcester Skirt Company, 
and soon after included the manufacture of corsets, and changed the name 
to the Worcester Corset Company. The business at first was very small, 
occupying a room about fifteen feet square, which was recently the directors' 
room of the Citizens National Bank over Harrington corner. As the busi- 
ness increased he moved to larger quarters in Franklin square, then to 
Hermon street, and finally in 1897 to the extensive factory on Wyman 
street. The business has become one of the most important industries of 
Worcester. 

Air. Fanning is a man of great energy, clear business insight, and a buoyant 
temperament, which have enabled him to face and overcome difficulties that 
would have discouraged most men. He sees the bright side of everything. 
His habits are methodical and industrious, and he personally superintends 
every detail of his business. With the evidence of great success he 
contemplates with a justifiable degree of satisfaction his rise in life from the 
time that he passed through Worcester a friendless boy to the present, which 
acknowledges his position as one of the most prominent and prosperous busi- 
ness men of the city. 




FERDINAND FLODIN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 615 

Ferdinand Flodin was born in Stockholm, Sweden, February 10, 1863. He 
was educated in the public schools of that city, and received thorough 
training in the drawing schools preliminary to entrance into the Academy 
of Arts. But his intention to pursue the course in that institution was 
frustrated by lack of means and other circumstances, and in 1883 he came to 
America, and engaged in Boston to learn the art of photography with the 
well-known Ritz, now deceased, who twelve to fifteen years ago was the most 
distinguished photographer in Boston, and one of the most prominent in the 
whole country. After also studying some time at the Notman studio, that 
is yet in active operation on Park street in Boston, and also in Montreal, 
Canada, Mr. Flodin came to "Worcester in 1S87, and in partnership with Mr. 
August Thyberg opened a studio at 411 Main street, where, under the firm 
name of Flodin & Thyberg, the business was conducted several years with 
increasing success. After a time Mr. Thyberg withdrew, and in 1894 removal 
to the present location at 476 ilain street was effected, and the apartments, 
especially arranged and constructed under the proprietor's direction, contain 
the model studio of the city, and it has few equals in larger places. The 
establishment comprises a large and beautifully decorated reception-room, 
the walls of which are filled with a great variety of pictorial photographs. 
Right from this room one enters into a daintily equipped ladies' dressing- 
room, which in turn leads to the very spacious and beautifully lighted 
operating-room, filled with all the indescribable utensils used in a well- 
equipped studio. Here are also located two smaller dainty dressing-rooms, 
and doors lead to the various working departments, the printing-rooms, 
chemical laboratories, retouching and finishing rooms, etc. 

In the taking of photographs the artistic perception and inborn tact of 'Sir. 
Flodin are marked, and his posing of the subject results in' something 
additional to a correct likeness, which is never sacrificed to mere effect. He 
has already gained great reputation, and many of Worcester's distinguished 
citizens are patrons of his establishment. 

Mr. Flodin is a man of literary tastes and ability, and is the projector of 
an elaborate and beautifully illustrated work on Sweden, printed in Swedish 
and published in Boston. For this he has written the text description. He 
is also a contributor to various photographic journals of articles pertaining 
to his art, and was last year honored by his profession in being elected 
secretary of the Xew England Photographers' Club. 

Hiram Fobes, son of Perez and Melissa (Nye) Fobes, was born in Oakham, 
Massachusetts, September 5, 1829. He was educated in the common 
schools of that town, and at the age of seventeen came to Worcester and 
engaged as an apprentice in the provision and marketing business. In 
1S54 he began on his own account, and in the course of twenty years, by 
his close attention and business ability, acquired a fortune, and retired 
from active participation in trade, although he continued to deal more or 
less in live stock and real estate after that time. Never seeking public 
office, his services were often desired by his fellow citizens. He was a 
member of the Common Council in 1879 and 1880, and an alderman in 
18S1 and 18S2, in which capacities his sound judgment and practical 



*fe^ 




HIRAM FOBES. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



617 



•disposition were of great benefit in the 
conduct of the city's affairs. In positions 
of trust and responsibility he was often 
placed, and was a director in several finan- 
cial and other corporations. Few men were 
better known or more respected in our com- 
munity for integrity or trustworthiness, 
and he was conspicuous for liberality in 
public and private affairs. He was of the 
Congregational faith, and in politics was 
a strong Republican. His death, which 
took place August 16, 1889, was lamented 
by a wide circle of friends. 

Mr. Fobes married in 1S70 Celia Eliza- 
beth Brayton of Smithfield, Rhode Island, 
who with two children survives him. 

James Edwin Farwell was born in ( )r- james e. farwell. 

leans county, \'ermunt, November 4, 1S58, 

and received his education in the district schools. He learned the trade of 
painter and decorator, which he followed several years. He came to 
Worcester in 1887 and established the firm of "Farwell Brothers," sign- 
writers. Ill health compelled him to retire from the firm and he became at 





RESIDENCE OF JAMES E. FARWELL, 78 JUNE STREET. 




#. 



^ 




SULLIVAN FOREHAND. 



The Worcester of 1898. 619- 

first a siilicitor, then adjuster, and later superintendent of agencies in a 
casualty insurance company, and in all these positions exhibited uncommon 
energy and ability. He was instrumental in originating and organizing 
the Ridgely and Masonic Protective Associations, the two most successful 
sick and accident benefit associations in the United States. He is sec- 
retary and general manager of both associations, and also a director 
and secretary of the United States Indemnity Society. He is a Knight 
Templar, Shriner, and a 32° Mason; has taken all the degrees in (.)dd Fel- 
lowship, is a member of the Hancock Club, Shaffner Society, Mechanics 
Association, Frohsinns, and an honorary member of the Wapiti Club. 

Sullivan Forehand was horn in Croyden, New Hampshire, October 10, 
1831, and died in Worcester June 7, 1S98. He was one of a numerous 
family, and passed his youthful years in assisting his father, Christopher, in 
the hard struggle to maintain an existence upon a small New Hampshire 
farm. 

At an early age, in company with an older brother, he started out into 
the world and made his way to Saundersville in Massachusetts, where he 
obtained work in pegging shoes at the bench. But this occupation did not 
suit his active and ambitious temperament, and he soon found employment 
better suited to his tastes and capabilities. In 1854 he came to Worcester 
and became bookkeeper in the iron works of Henry S. Washburn, and later 
served in the same capacity for Pratt & Inman at a higher salary. In i860 
Mr. Forehand became connected with the firm of Allen & Wheelock, fire- 
arms manufacturers, and in 1865, with Mr. H. C. Wadsworth, was admitted 
into the firm. After the death of the senior partner in 187 1, the firm 
became Forehand & Wadsworth. Mr. Wadsworth retired in 1883, and Mr. 
Forehand carried on the business alone until the incorporation of the Fore- 
hand Arms Company, of which he became president in 1S92. 

Under his management the business was largely developed, making fire- 
arms of all kinds, especially shot-guns and automatic revolvers of the 
highest grade. For the past twenty years the stone factory formerly 
known as the Tainter Mill on Gardner street has been occupied as the 
manufactory. 

Mr. Forehand was a man of ability and integrity in business, and in his 
social relations affable and sincere. He left a wide circle of friends to 
regret his loss. He was a member of the Board of Trade, the Worcester 
County Mechanics Association, the Worcester County Agricultural Society, 
The Worcester Society of Antiquity, and of the Massachusetts and Home 
Market Clubs of Boston. He was a Mason, affiliating with Athelstan 
Lodge. In politics he was a loyal Republican, and in religion a Unitarian, 
and attended the Church of the Unity. He leaves two sons, who were asso- 
ciated with him in business, and two daughters. 

Calvin Foster,* late president of the City National Bank, was born in 
Worcester when that place was a village of about twenty-five hundred 
inhabitants. In his boyhood he entered the employment of Caleb Newcomb,, 



* See portrait on page 370. 




FRANCIS A. GASKILL. 



The Worcester of 1898. 621 

a dealer in stoves and hardware, whom he several years later succeeded in 
business. In 1S34 'Sir. Foster removed to Fitchburg, engaging in partner- 
ship in the same business, but soon returned to Worcester, and in 1840- 
bought with Amos Brown ^Ir. Xewcomb's interest, and established the 
firm so long known as C. Foster & Co. 

In 1S54 Sir. Foster erected the fine block at the corner of ^lain and 
Pearl streets, which is said to have been the fi;rst iron front building- 
constructed in Xew England. The ground floor was occupied by the 
hardware business, and the City Bank, which Mr. Foster was instrumental 
in fotmding, was established in the quarters it has occupied since in the 
second story. Mr. Foster was elected president of this bank in 1878, and 
held that office until his death. He was also prominent in the organization 
of the Safe Deposit & Trust Company, the People's Savings Bank, and was 
identified with railroad and other interests of Worcester. He was a 
member of the first Common Council of the city in 1848, and later of the 
Board of Aldermen. 

Mr. Foster was three times married. His active business life extended 
over a period of seventy years. He died November 12, 1898. 

Francis Almon Gaskill was born in Blackstone, Massachusetts, January 
3, 1846. He received his education in the public schools of his native town 
and at the high school in Woonsocket. Entering Brown University, he 
was graduated in the class of 1866. He moved to Worcester in 1868, and 
studied law in the office of the late Honorable George F. Verry of Worces- 
ter, after a course at the Law School of Harvard University. He was 
admitted to the bar in 1869, and later was in law partnership with Mr. 
Verry until the death of the latter in 1883. He was district attorney of 
the Middle District of Massachusetts from 1887 to 1895, when he was 
appointed one of the justices of the Superior Court of Massachusetts by 
(rdvernor Greenhalge, which office he now holds. 

Mr. Gaskill was a member of the Common Council of Worcester in 1875- 
1876, and a director of the Free Public Library several years, and presi- 
dent of the Board in 1888. He is a trustee of Brown University and of 
Worcester Academy, and is connected with various other social and literary 
bodies. He is possessed of book-loving tastes, and finds great enjoyment 
in their gratification. He is a vice-president of the People's Savings Bank, 
and a director of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company. 

In 1869 Mr. Gaskill was married to Katharine M. Whitaker of Provi- 
dence. She died in January, 1889, leaving two children. He married in 
July. 1892, Josephine L. Abbott of Providence. 

William Augustus Gile was born in Northfield, now Franklin, Xew Hamp- 
shire, June 5, 1843. The foundation of his education was acquired in the 
district school known as the Hodgeon school-house, and the elocutionary 
training which came from public declamation upon exhibition day at the 
last of the term, and the reading and recitation from Town's Fourth 
Reader, which was then used and known in all the public schools of 
northern Xew England, gave him an equipment which has been brought 




WILLIAM A. GILE. 



con- 
am- 



The Worcester of 1898. 623 

into practical use in later years at the bar and upon the stump, in his pro- 
fess,onal and poht.cal efforts, in many public speeches and Memorial day 
addresses He pursued a course of study at the academies at Tilton and 
Frankhn, New Hampsh.re. This was just completed when, in 186. " at the 
age of nmeteen, he enhsted as a soldier, after which he served in th; army 
unt:l the close ot the war, being discharged in June, X865, as captain :8 h 
New Hampshire ^ olunteers, and thereafter as captain in the z.y'h Unit 
States (colored troops), m August, 1867. In 1867 he began the studv o 
aw m the office of Pike & Blodgett in Franklin, and ^:bsequeml .' 
tmued his professional preparation at the Harvard Law School in Cam 
bndge during .868--69. He was admitted to the bar in Boston n :8 
and entered upon the practice of his profession in Greenfield Massachu' 
setts, with Whiting Griswold, to whom he was recommencS' b 1 lal' 
school teacher, Emory Washburn, then professor in the Dane Law Sch o 
at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 

In 1871 he removed to Worcester and formed a co-partnershin with his 
classmate, Charles A. Merrill, which continued until the yea 88 he 
which he has prosecuted his profession at Worcester without a par ner 
having the assistance of several younger members of the bar, and student; 
who have been admitted through the preparation in Mr. Gile's office Hs 
practice has from the first been extensive, and he has been recognized by 
his professional brethren and by the community in which he lives as an abll 
and forcible jury advocate, and he holds an influential position at the bar 

Colonel Gile has been the commander of the Worcester Continentals four 
years during which time the company has successfully observed its annua 
fied day on the 17th of June with such distinguished military bodiesTsth 
Amoskeag \ eterans ot New Hampshire, the Putnam Phalanx of Connect 
icut, and others. ^umiecr 

.nd°t"" ^'Ii' '''P''T'"^ '''' '^'y °f Worcester in the Legislature of r886 
and 1887, and was a leader of the House in debate. He was a member of 
he National Republican Convention of .888, and took a prominent par 1^ 
the proceedings ot that body. He was upon the stump during the fall 
campaign of that year in Maine and Massachusetts. He is a force in Grand 

addTe'ssTs ""' '" ""■"" "" '" '"""^' '''' '^""'"•'"^' ^'^y --' ^^he'- 

While captain in the Eighteenth Regiment, New Hampshire ^•olu^teers 
he was a member of the General Court-Martial of the Army of the Potomac' 
and he has recently written an able and interesting paper on •■ Military 
Law and Courts-Martial, - which was published in the Gra^iir, Monthly He 
was m the army for two years during the armed intervention against the 

in Met;" b T'- ?,"' 'Z ""f '"'" '^^ '^^^ ^ P^P^^" "^^'^^-^d "Maximilian 
m Mexico before the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of 
the Loyal Legion m Boston (of which he is a member), which was hio-hly 
appreciated as a presentation of the practical enforcement of the Monroe 

pa"nerTwhfT\ '" '"" ^'"I'f '" ''"■" ^'"'^'"^"^- ^^'"^^g' the' important 
papers uhich have emanated from the pen of Colonel Gile, none was more 
appreciated by the city of AVorcester, or was more able and effective in the 



624 The Worcester of 1898. 

discussion of the location of the City Hall, involving the use of the Common,, 
than the one addressed to the chairman of the Parks Commission, Edwardi 
W. Lincoln, who made it a part of his annual report for the year 1896-1897.. 

Colonel Gile is of the Unitarian faith in religion, and a constant attend- 
ant at the Church of the Unity. He is a member of various military and 
secret societies, social clubs and other organizations of Worcester. He is. 
the author of a bill introduced in Congress for the organization of tui army 
of colored troops to occupy the islands taken in war with Spain. 

He was married in 1873 to Mary Green Waitt of Boston, who died in 
1S76. A son and daughter, William Waitt and Minnie Helen, were born to 
them. In 1878 Mr. Gile married Clara Antoinette Dewing of North Brook- 
field, and has had six children, three of whom survive, three having died in 
infancy. Their son, Alfred Dewing, has been a student at the Amherst 
State College, from which institution, at the age of nineteen, he enlisted in 
Battery D, ist Regiment Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and entered the 
service at Fort Warren, where he was promoted to be corporal. Their 
daughter, Margaret O. L., and their son, Lawrence B., are pupils in the 
public schools. The eldest daughter, Minnie Helen, after graduating at 
the Classical high school at Worcester, has finished a course at the Students" 
Art League in New York since her graduation from the high school. The 
eldest son, William,, after leaving the schools in Worcester, pursued a course 
in the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University, and has been in 
business in Boston since. 

Edward Augustus Goodnow,* distinguished as a financier of preeminent 
ability, and widely known as a philanthropist, was born in Princeton, 
Massachusetts, July 16, 1820. He is descended in direct line from the 
progenitors of his family name in America — three brothers who came to- 
Massachusetts from England in 1632 — and by their strong characters and 
sturdy efforts aided in laying the foundations of the Commonwealth. 
Edward Goodnow, the grandfather of Edward A., resided in Sudbury late 
in the last century. He married a young woman of good family in North- 
borough, and, removing to Princeton, established the Goodnow homestead, 
which still remains in the occupation of his descendants. His son, Edward, 
inherited the estate, and married Rebecca Beaman of Princeton, and became 
the father of six sons and two daughters, of whom Edward A. was the third. 
The subject of this sketch passed his boyhood life upon the farm, but was- 
fortunate in obtaining more than the ordinary advantages afforded by the 
district schools in instruction for several terms at Hadley Academy. At the 
age of twenty he was employed by his elder brother, who kept a country 
store, and two years later entered into partnership with him. The business 
was afterwards enlarged to include the manufacture of palm-leaf hats and of 
shoes, an example of enterprise not common at that time, and which was 
largely the result of the activity anil energy of the younger brother. As the 
business assumed larger proportions, a third partner was admitted, and in 
1847, Mr. Goodnow seeking broader opportunities, disposed of his interest 



^See portrait on page 36S. 



The Worcester of li 



625 



and engaged in the cutlery business at Shelburne Falls as a member of the 
firm of Lamson, Goodnow & Co. Considerations of health caused him to 
relinquish this enterprise a year later, and he passed some time in Eaton, 
Madison county, New-York, where he had financial interests. In 1852 Mr. 
Goodnow became a resident of Worcester, and for four years engaged in the 
retail shoe trade, and in 1856 opened the first wholesale jobbing-house in the 
city. This business increased under his management until it reached the 
amount of nearly half a million dollars yearly. In 1865 he retired from 
active mercantile life in the possession of a large fortune, and gave a year or 




RESIDENCE OF E. A. GOOCMOW, 6 OAK STREET. 

two to leisure, occupying himself the while in the study of social and political 
jjroblems, and in the management of his investments. 

He was, however, about to enter upon a career in which his peculiar genius 
and qualifications were to find opportunities for their exercise and develop- 
ment. His well-known successful and honorable business experience, and the 
rare sagacity which he had so often exhibited in the management of financial 
concerns, marked him as one particularly fitted for the place which he assumed 
as president of the First National Bank, by unanimous vote of the directors 
in 1866. His administration as president was brilliantly successful from the 
first. By introducing a firm yet liberal policy, he greatly promoted the 
prosperity of the bank, and strengthened the institution so that its stock 
doubled its par value under his management. For years it was the only bank 



626 The Worcester of 1898. 

in the city which allowed interest on special deposit, subject to check at 
sight. The semi-annual dividends for more than a quarter of a century 
seldom fell below the rate of ten or twelve per cent, per annum. His long 
and untiring devotion to the interests of the bank was honored in 1881 by a 
most cordial and appreciative testimonial from the stockholders. Mr. 
Goodnow served as president twenty-eight years, retiring in 1894. He was 
instrumental in the erection of the First National Bank block, a fine five- 
story marble structure. 

But however eminent his abilities as a business man and a banker, it is as 
a philanthropist and a benefactor that Mr. Goodnow is widely known. Few 
have equaled him in the number and amount of gifts judiciously distributed 
among a variety of worthy subjects. He entered early into the anti-slavery 
movement, and during the War of the Rebellion he gave freely of his means 
to sustain the government. In one instance he headed a Worcester 
subscription with $500 to help (.Governor Andrew enlist and equip the 
first regiment of colored troops. He unhesitatingly subscribed for the 
first issue of government bonds. Mr. Goodnow furnished thirteen clerks 
from his service for the army. One of the evidences of his regard for the 
nation's dead is the memorial tablets in the Worcester high school in memory 
of fifteen students who fell in the war. A bust of General Grant and a 
portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe were also gifts from him to the same 
institution. Life-size portraits of President Garfield and Vice-President 
Wilson grace Mechanics Hall through his generosity. Several of his bene- 
factions are memorials of his married life. His first wife was Harriet, 
daughter of Doctor Henry Bagg of Princeton, and subsequent to her 
death Mr. Goodnow married her sister, Mary Augusta. Of this marriage 
one son, Henry Bagg Goodnow, was born, but did not survive infancy. The 
second wife died after five years of wedded life. Mr. Goodnow's third wife 
was Catharine B., daughter of Honorable Seth Caldwell of Barre, who after 
twenty-five years also passed away. Mr. Goodnow, in connection with his 
gift of $40,000 to his native town to build the fine library building known as 
the Goodnow Memorial building, devoted $3,000 towards the building of a 
new town hall, which has been named Bagg Hall in memory of his first two 
wives and his son. In 1887 he gave $5,000 to found the Catharine B. 
Goodnow fund to the Young Women's Christian Association, and later nearly 
$25,000 more towards completing thebuildingof this association and finishing 
and furnishing the Memorial hall in honor of Catharine B. Goodnow. The 
hall contains a portrait of this admirable woman and devout Christian. 

He has also been the benefactor of Plymouth Congregational Church in 
Worcester, of which he is a member, as the gifts of its notable chime of ten 
bells and its fine organ — memorials of his wife and infant son — attest. He 
has been a large contributor to the great missionary agencies of the 
Congregational denomination, and many other struggling enterprises have 
benefited by his bounty. 

As a friend of higher education, Mr. (jimhIouw has particularly distinguished 
himself. To Mount Holyoke College he has given §25,000; to Iowa College, 
$15,000, to erect the Goodnow Library and Observatory; and $5,000 each to 



The Worcester of 1898. 5, 

Wellesley College, the Moody School at Northfield, and Washburn College in 
Kansas to found a John Brown Drofessorsh.n m^ 1, "in ^.onege in 

funds of Oberlin CoHege, Berea c'olLr^oln Slle;: Z^Th " I'' 
Institute. He has given $.5,000 in afl ;o erect buiMtgs' ^r the h4« 
Semmarym Welhngton, South Africa, an institution Ir the education o 

Charitable and Christian uses probably^reld f ItfoTrSn^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
Recently he has g:ven $xo,ooo to Drury College for a dormitory. Over fifty 
young ladies are receiving aid from the endowments given dTfferen 
educational institutions by Mr. Goodnow aitterent 

_ Mr. Goodnow lives in a beautiful mansion on Oak street, Worcester He 
:s constantly visited by scores of friends and notables from all parts and a 
large correspondence engages his attention. High in the estimaHon J 1, 
at peace with the world, and blessed with good hLlth, he e" ^Lrii ^ d 
the opportunities which daily arise for doing good, and a though at the 

merarvigT H:'fal^'"^^'\^ ''''''' '' ""' ^^^^^"^ wonderful I'dily a^nd 
mental vigor. He takes a keen interest in everything bearing on the 
nat,onal welfare has an eye to the condition of business affairs is a regult 
a tendan at religious services on the Sabbath, and next after his earne t lov e 
of God, keeps m his heart that love of his fellow men for which he shall 
deserve from posterity, as he has received from present and past generatit 
a gratitude which vainly seeks expression in words generations. 

Reverend George H. Gould, D. D. Instead of the traditional "three 

" an'd r"'"'"? '" ^''^ '^°""^^>' '^ '^ ^-^ ^^^^ between L ye 
35 and 1655 more than twenty persons by the name of Gould came from 
different parts of England to find homes in New England AnrnV th" 
most noted of these was the Reverend Thomas Gould, who se ded m 
Charlestown and Zaccheus Gould, who located in Lynn. Some membe s 
of this widely distributed Gould family proudly brought with themTcros 
Tras^mra^ld r^^^^'^^^^l.'^^^^^^-- ^ ^^^^^^"^ ^^^^t arm uplif^r: 

S"i^<:;:,ttrre'.^^'''^ ""'^™^^^^ -- ''--'- "^'"^- - 

ol7^" 5' "^""u"^' '°" "^ ^"^^'^ ^"^ ^'^">' (Henrv) Gould, was born in 
Oakham, Massachusetts, February .0, 183;. His father was a nativ o 
Char ton, and his mother was born in Rutland. The Henrys came origin 

ntaZb ? '"f ""'^' ^'^■^'^^''" ^'^'•--"-' ''^ -ost'famousTp e- 

Rotrno of' 7 ^^^"^\«r''3- ^^e great Revolutionary orator, and first 
go ernorof \ irg.n.a. It has always been a pleasing postulate of Doctor 

^el V.'^'T'f "' ''''°"^^ '^^ '^^''y ''-^^ -- "°t as closely welded a 

D tor Gould fin .. ?^ ''"^''"' '"'^ ^'^"^'^"^ -'-^ '^ h- -ins. 

Con ' in^S ^T '°'" 'T^'"'' ^°"^°" ^^-demy, entered Amherst 
Un on Th !, ' 1 T" ^''-duated in the class of 1850. He then entered 

Pn ess.^ P ' £"k "TT'' '''' '' '"^'"^ ^'" "^'^'^"^ ---- ^« ^"-^d 
Ando e H "* '°"'''' °^ '""'^^'"^■^ °" systematic theology at 

Ando^er, and returning to Union Seminary for his third year was graduated 




REVEREND GEORGE H. GOULD. 



The Worcester of if 



629 



in 1853. Just before leaving- the seminary he received an invitation to 
become colleague pastor with the Reverend Albert Barnes of Philadelphia, but 
at this period suffering much from ill health, from over-study, and especially 
from lack of gymnastic training, now so happily enjoyed by students, he 
went West to engage with an old college friend in railroad engineering, 
with the hope of recovering his health ; but instead contracted a malignant 
form of malaria in the swamps skirting the western, shore of Lake Mich- 
igan, and this misfortune has been the one bane and misery of his whole 
subsequent physical life. 

During the next two years, as strength allowed, he preached intermit- 
tently in various cities of the West — Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Beloit 




RESIDENCE OF GEORGE H, GOULD, 873 MAIN STREET. 



and others, and also lectured in Ivceum courses in several states of the 
northwest during the winter — this whole experience covering about two 
vears. 

Sdon after. Doctor Gould formed an acquaintance with the late John B. 
<i"ugii, the distinguished temperance advocate and orator, and the friend- 
shi[) then formed continued until the death of the latter. Accepting Mr. 
Gdugh's invitation to go with him to England, the next two and a half 
years were spent abroad, one year in England, four months in Edinburgh, 
six in Paris, two in Rome, several in Germany, besides two summers in 
Switzerland. Before his return to this country Mr. Gould received a 
unanimous call to the pastorate of the Bowdoin Street Church, Boston, 
formerly Doctor Lyman Beecher's, but could not entertain it. 

Returning home in October, 1862, Doctor Gould married Nellie M. 
Grout, daughter of Jonathan Grout, Esquire, and a sister of "Willie " Grout, 



630 The Worcester of 1898. 

the young martyr of Ball's Bluff, whose tragic death inspired the writing of 
"The Vacant Chair." For two years from this time he was stated supply 
at Olivet Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, meanwhile receiving urgent 
calls from the Sixth Street Presbyterian Church, Troy, New York, and 
Park Church, Norwich, Connecticut. In December, 1864, he was settled 
as pastor of the Old Centre Church in Hartford, Connecticut, in which call 
and settlement it was stipulated that he was, by reason of impaired health, 
to preach but one sermon each Sunday. Here he remained si.x years, it 
being his first and only formal settlement over any church. 

Doctor Gould returned to Worcester to make it his permanent home in 
1870, and during the next two or three years supplied for various intervals 
the pulpits of Central Church and Union Church in Providence, Rhode 
Island; Walnut Avenue and Immanuel Churches in Boston, and then 
began with Piedmont Church in Worcester, in its infancy, and enjoyed a 
most sacred, tender and delightful acting pastorate with that beloved 
people for five years. Subsequently, on the retirement of Doctor Cutler, 
he preached two and a half years in Union Church in Worcester. New 
edifices were erected by both Piedmont and Union during his stay among 
them. While at Piedmont Church Doctor Gould was invited to the pulpit 
of Amherst College as college preacher, and in connection therewith to the 
chair of Biblical history. About the same time overtures were made to 
him by the Third Church of New Haven, Connecticut, for a service of one 
sermon per Sunday for one year, at a salary of six thousand dollars. Thus 
his whole ministerial life, by the ordering of Providence, has been largely 
fragmentary, continually interrupted by chronic disability, but like some 
other notable invalids, he has been able to perform a great deal of 
work. 

Doctor George Leon Walker of Hartford, writing to the Coiigrtgatioiia/ist 
some years ago on the unfortunate invalidism of certain prominent clergymen 
and professors in our seminaries, after other concrete citations makes the 
following eulogistic reference to the subject of this sketch: "The very 
eloquent minister of Piedmont Church at Worcester, who certainly has no 
superior in New England." John B. Gough, who when at home was 
Doctor Gould's parishioner for five years at Piedmont Church, says in his 
autobiography: "In 1856 I first met Reverend George H. Gould, D. D., 
and was fascinated by his preaching. He is emotional with no sensation- 
alism. He speaks with an earnestness that convinces you he believes all 
he utters, with a deep pathos revealing the tenderness of his own nature, 
an eloquence perfectly natural, a face radiant at times when he utters some 
lofty thought. He iias no monotoxious repetitions; there is nothing stale 
or conventional in his preaching. He reaches the intellect and the heart, 
and were it not for his health he would have been one of the widely-known 
popular preachers of the day. " 

Doctor Gould received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from 
Amherst College, his alma mater, in 1870. 

During the last decade he has continued to preach with frequency, but 
owing to the necessities of health, almost entirely within near vicinity to his 



The Worcester of 1898. 631 

own home. The photograph accompanying- this sketch was taken on his 
seventieth birthday. 

J. Evarts Greene,* son of Reverend David and Mary (Evarts) Greene, was 
born in Boston Xovember 27, 1834. His parents, soon after his birth, 
removed to Roxbury, and he attended the pubHc schools and the Latin 
School of that town. After a year passed at the University of the City of 
New York, he entered Yale College in 1850 and was graduated in the class 
of 1853. During the next four years he taught school in Connecticut and 
Iowa, and from 1857 to 1859 was engaged in surveying government lands 
in Kansas. Returning to Massachusetts, he was, after a few months' study, 
admitted to the Worcester bar, and began to practise his profession in 
North Brookfield. He was the first man in that town to enlist in the War 
of the Rebellion, and having aided in raising a company, was commis- 
sioned as first lieutenant in the Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment. At the 
battle of Ball's Bluff, October 2, 1861, Lieutenant Greene, with a detach- 
ment of his company, while covering the retreat of their comrades, was 
taken prisoner, and with other officers confined at Richmond four months. 
In recognition of his gallant service at Ball's Bluff he received a captain's 
commission issued while he was in prison. He was released on parole Feb- 
ruary 22, 1862, the day that Jefferson Davis w^as inaugurated president of 
the Confederate States. After ineffectual attempts to secure an exchange, 
and long waiting. Captain Greene resigned and resumed the practice of law 
in North Brookfield, where he remained until May, 186S, when he removed 
to Worcester to become the associate of Honorable John D. Baldwin in the 
editorship of the Worcester Spy. On Mr. Baldwin's death, Mr. Greene 
became editor-in-chief, a position which he filled until 1891. It was a post 
for which his scholarly tastes, well-trained mind and ready knowledge of 
men and events eminently fitted him. 

On the 5th of February, 1891, Mr. Greene was appointed postmaster 
of Worcester, which office he still holds. Under his administration, the 
efficiency of the service has materially improved, owing to the systematiza- 
lion of the work. The carrier service has been improved and extended and 
the number of collections increased. 

Mr. Greene is a member of the Antiquarian Society, and of the St. 
Wulstan Society, and he has twice been president of the Boand of Directors 
of the Free Public Library. In politics he is a Republican. 

In April, 1864, Mr. Greene married Mary A. Bassett of New Haven. 
She died in January, 1897. 

Samuel Swett Green, f son of James and Elizabeth (Swett) Green, was born 
in Worcester February 20, 1837. He received his preparatory education in 
the private and public schools of his native place, entered Harvard College 
in 1854, and was graduated four years later. After a few months of foreign 
travel, he entered in 1861 the Divinity School of Harvard University, 
and completed his course in 1864. He was connected with the Worcester 
National Bank as teller for several years. 



'See portrait on page 30S. f See portrait ou page 202. 




CHARLES E. GRANT. 



The Worcester of i8g8. 633 

January i, 1867, he became a director of the Free PubHc Librarj- of 
Worcester. In 1871 he was chosen librarian of that institution, which was 
endowed by his uncle, the late Doctor John Green, the principal founder of 
the library. In this position Mr. Green has gained for himself and the 
Worcester Library a wide reputation. His purpose has been from the first 
to make the Public Library an instrument for popular education and a 
practical power in the community. To this end he has written and spoken 
much during the past twenty years, and his efforts and advice have in- 
fluenced in no slight degree library methods and administration throughout 
the United States. The library methods in Worcester have been studied 
by the Department of the Seine, in which the city of Paris is situated ; 
Mr. Green's advice has been sought by the Education Department of the 
English Government. The Free Public Library in Worcester has recently 
been described at great length by a German scholar as an example worthy 
to be followed in this country in advocating the introduction of popular 
libraries, such as we have in the United States, into Germany. 

He was one of the founders and afterwards president of the American 
Library Association, presiding at its meetings in San Francisco in October, 
1891; was delegate to the International Congress of Librarians in London 
in 1877, and a member of the council of that body. He was vice-president 
of the International Conference of Librarians held at London in 1897. He 
presided one of the days of the International Conference of Librarians held 
at Chicago in 1893, in connection with the World's Exposition. He has 
been a lecturer in the vSchool of Library Economy of Columbia College ; is 
an honorary member of the Library Association of the United Kingdom ; 
a fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain; a member 
of the Council of the American Antiquarian Society, of the American His- 
torical Association, the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, the American 
Geographical Society, the Archaeological Institute of America; one of the 
Board of Managers of the American School for Classical Studies in Rome : 
a corresponding member of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and 
is connected with many other literary, historical and social societies. 

He has been a member of the Massachusetts Free Public Library Com- 
mission since its organization in 1890. His services as speaker are fre- 
quently in demand at library dedications and on other similar occasions. 
He has written many papers for historical societies, for the American Social 
Science Association, the United States Bureau of Education, the Massa- 
chusetts Board of Education, and for American and English periodicals, as 
well as two books on library economy. He is a trustee of Leicester Acad- 
emy; has been president of the Worcester Art Society; was one of the 
original corporators of the Art Museum, and was the first president of the 
Society of the Graduates of the Worcester High School. 

The chapter treating of the libraries of Worcester in 1S9S, in another 
part of this volume, was appropriately prepared and contributed by Mr. 
Green. 

Charles Edward Grant, son of Edward and Rebecca (^ilason) Grant, was 
born in Kennebnnk, Maine. June 14, 1842. His father was of Scotch 




HENRY C. GRATON. 



The Worcester of 1898. 635 

ancestry, whose members, going from Cape Cod, were among the earliest 
settlers of Saco, Maine. His mother's family, of English origin, was rep- 
resented in Haverhill in 1864, and later in the vicinity of Keene, New 
Hampshire. His parents moved to Boston when he was young, and he 
was educated in the public schools of that city. In May, 1861, he served 
with the New England Guards at Fort Independence in Boston harbor, 
and on the 22d of September he enlisted as sergeant in the Twenty-fourth 
Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, and was in continuous service until 
he was mustered out, August 29, 1865. May 23, 1863, he was commissioned 
second lieutenant, and on the first of June following as captain in the Fifty- 
fifth Massachusetts Volunteers. He was brevetted major for gallantry on 
James Island July 2, 1864. Later he acted as aid and provost marshal, 
superintendent of transportation in South Carolina, and finally as post 
(juartermaster at Orangeburg, South Carolina. 

From 1865 to 1872 Major Grant was engaged in the flour and grain 
business in Boston. Subsequently he entered the office of the Boylston 
Insurance Company of that city, and in 1875 came to Worcester and pur- 
chased a small fire insurance agency, which he has increased by absorption 
of other agencies and close attention to business until it is now the largest 
agency in Worcester. He is a member of the Commonwealth and Hancock 
Clubs, and is widely known and esteemed by a large circle of friends and 
acquaintances. 

Mr. Grant was married in 1877 to Louella W., daughter of John W. 
Howe, wire-goods manufacturer of Worcester. They have a daughter 
Stephanie, and three sons. Barton Howe, Malcom Mason and Harold. 

Henry Clay Graton, treasurer of the Graton & Knight Manufacturing 
Company, was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, July 10, 1830. His father 
was William Graton, who was a native of the same town and who for a 
number of years was in the card-clothing business. 

The subject of this sketch began his education in the public school and 
completed it at the Leicester Academy when he was only fifteen years old. 
Coming to Worcester he entered the employ of Earl & Fames, with whom 
he learned the card-clothing business, and after finishing his apprenticeship- 
he was for eight years with T. K. Earle & Co. 

In February, 1861, he formed a partnership with Mr. J. A. Knight and 
purchased of Earle & Co. their belt department. From that beginning a 
very large business has been built up and developed. 

In politics Mr. Graton is a Republican, and although by integrity and 
business ability especially qualified for places of public trust, he has never 
had any aspirations in that direction. He is a member of the Worcester 
Mechanics Association, and interested in its prosperity. In his religious 
belief he is a Methodist and a prominent member of Grace Church. 

Mr. Graton was married June 7, 1863, to Miss Lucretia M. Gould of this 
city. Their only child, Minnie Etta, died at the age of four years. Mrs. 
Graton is a devoted worker in the church and Sunday school. She is also- 
a prominent member of the Woman's Christian Temperance L^nion, and 
actively engaged in benevolent and philanthropic work. 




JONATHAN GROUT. 



The Worcester of 1898. 637- 

The Right Reverend Monsignor Thomas Griffin* was born in Cork, Ireland, 
in iSj6. He received his early education in the schools of the Christian 
Brothers of that city. In 1851 he emigrated to this country with his father, 
who took up his residence in Salem. He completed his classical studies at 
St. Charles' College in Ellicott City, Maryland, and entered St. Mary's 
Seminar)' in 1863. He was ordained to the priesthood June 30, 1867, and 
in July following was appointed assistant priest to Reverend P. T. O'Reilly, 
who was then pastor of St. John's Church in Worcester. While in this 
position he had much to do with the missions at Holden, Shrewsbury and 
Stoneville, and built churches at all these places. 

On the consecration of Father O'Reilly as bishop of the new Diocese of 
Springfield in 1870, Father Griffin was put in charge of St. John's, and 
received the appointment of chancellor of the Diocese. In 1871 he pur- 
chased the estate on Vernon street and called to the city a community of 
the Sisters of Notre Dame from Cincinnati. He built in 1873 the school- 
house for girls of the parochial schools, and made use of the Institute on 
Temple street as an auxiliary school. 

Monsignor Griffin served the city as a member of the School Committee, 
and has also served as a trustee of the Free Public Librar\\ 

Jonathan Grout was one of the most prominent of that class of business 
men whose enterprise and force of character have been potent not only in 
the upbuilding of their own fortunes, but in promoting the growth and 
prosperity of Worcester during the half century. He was born in the 
adjoining town of Millbury September 24, 1815, but came of Worcester 
stock, his father of the same name, a noted schoolmaster and book-binder 
in his day, having been born here February 14, 1772. His great-grand- 
father settled in 1744 upon the Grout estate on Vernon street, near 
Quinsigamond Village, which has remained in the possession of one branch 
of the family. The subject of this sketch was the fifth of that name in 
direct succession from the progenitor in this country. Captain John Grout 
of Watertown, in 1640. 

Jonathan Grout, Junior, as he was known before the death of his father, 
came to Worcester in 1840 and opened a small stationery store, which he 
conducted in connection with the manufacture of blank-books on a limited 
scale; but his business increasing and demanding larger quarters, he in 
1842 erected, in connection with the late George Bowen, the building at 
389 Main street as now numbered and at present occupied by Putnam, 
Davis & Co., book-sellers. To his stationery business Mr. Grout added 
book-selling, and his store became the favorite resort of purchasers of 
those commodities, who were equally attracted by the large and well- 
selected stock and the refined tastes and discrimination of the proprietor. 
During the next ten years the business of the establishment greatly 
increased, and Mr. Grout also engaged in other enterprises which proved 
equally profitable, and which demanded so much of his attention that he 
disposed of his interest in the book-store in 1S52 to John Keith. About this- 



* See portrait on page 292. 



^s^ 







DOCTOR THOMAS H. GAGE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 639 

time he was interested in the manufacture of portemonnaies, of copying- 
presses, of perforated paper, and indirectly, through pecuniary investment, 
in the enterprises of Doctor Russell L. Hawes, who invented the machinery 
for making, and who produced in Worcester the first machine-made 
envelopes in the world, which were put upon the market by Mr. Grout. 
All these undertakings were in a greater or less degree successful, and his 
career was in the main a very prosperous one. In a single instance of 
business misfortune, such was his high-toned conception of honor and 
personal integrity that he paid, after he had been legally released by his 
creditors, all their claims in principal and interest. He was a man of great 
business tact, energy and sagacity, quick to decide and to act, the scope 
and rapidity of his mental calculation giving him great advantage in large 
transactions, the magnitude of which would appall the average mind. 

In i860 he again engaged in the book and stationery business at his old 
location, taking in partnership Mr. L. H. Bigelow, and later disposed of 
his interest to Mr. Bigelow; but on the death of the latter in 187 1 resumed 
it for a short time in company with Mr. Samuel H. Putnam, finally retiring 
in 1876, when the establishment was taken by Messrs. Putnam and Davis. 
In 1 87 1 he built the large block ne.xt north of the book-store, on land 
purchased of Benjamin Bowen, and to the care of this property and his 
other large interests he devoted the remainder of his life. He died, after a 
period of failing health, April 4, 1882. 

Notwithstanding his busy life, and the important and various interests 
which demanded his close attention, Mr. Grout found time to devote to 
the cultivation of his finer instincts. One of his chief delights was in 
literature, and he possessed a carefully selected and much valued collection 
of books, in which at times he found a refuge from business cares. He 
was a great lover of nature, and an admirer of birds, trees and flowers in 
their state of freedom. In horticulture and in floriculture he was an 
enthusiast, and the choice qualities of his fruit, and the endless variety of 
his cultivated plants and flowers were a marvel to his less fortunate friends. 
He was an original member of the Worcester County Horticultural Society, 
and was many years active in the association. His fine residence, which he 
long occupied on Main street, near Piedmont, is to-day one of the most 
stately mansions in the city, and he also maintained a large farm estate 
farther south. 

Of his children the only survivor is Nellie ]\I., the wife of Reverend 
George H. Gould, D. D. John William Grout, the son, who gallantly fell 
at Ball's Bluff, was Worcester's first martyr in the War for the Union, and 
his lamented death has been the subject of eulogy and song. 

Obadiah Brown Hadwen, son of Charles and Amy Sherman (Brownwell) 
Hadwen, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, August 2, 1824. On his 
father's side he comes from sturdy English stock, descending from John 
Hadwen, who early came from Rochdale in England and settled in Newport. 
His great-aunt was the wife of Obadiah Brown, prominent as a pioneer in 
the cotton-spinning industry in this country. Charles Hadwen, a Providence 
merchant and manufacturer, abandoned those callings to become a farmer. 




OBADIAH B. HADWEN. 



The Worcester of 1S98. 



641 



and in 1S35 he moved to Worcester, having purchased the Wing Kelley farm 
near Tatnuck. Here the subject of this sketch passed his youth, and 
developed those tastes which have in him through his later life manifested 
themselves so strongly. 

Obadiah Hadwen spent four years at the Friends' School in Providence 
before he came to Worcester, and afterwards four winters at the Clinton 
Grove Institute at Ware, New Hampshire. He also received one term's 
instruction at the Worcester County Manual Labor School. In 1844, before 
reaching his majority, he came into the possession of a portion of the farm 
he now occupies, and in course of time erected buildings and greatly improved 




ENTRANCE TO GROUNDS OF O. B. HADWEN'b RESIDENCE. 



and increased the value of the property. All the trees, which comprise 
many beautiful specimens, and which have attracted much notice among 
horticulturists, were planted by him. For forty years he followed market- 
gardening and the nursery, also being interested in the milk business. 
During the fifty-four years of his occupation, he has seen great changes, and 
the rural surroundings of his farm have become obliterated by the outgrowth 
"f a great city, but his immediate home and grounds remain intact. 

^Ir. Hadwen is a great lover of the farm and country, and his devotion to 
practical and scientific agriculture has been equaled in intensity by few. 
His thorough insight, long experience and sound judgment have been 
universally acknowledged, and he has a national reputation as a horticulturist. 
^Ir. Hadwen became a member of the Worcester County Horticultural 
Society in 1S47, and has served as trustee, vice-president, and president, to 




ANDREW H. HAMMOND. 



The Worcester of 1898. 643 

■which latter office he was again, after twenty years, elected in 1895, and still 
holds, having been reelected no less than three times. He is vice-president 
of and active in the famous Massachusetts Agricultural Club, which was 
organized April 4, 1S40. He was for many years vice-president and is still 
a trustee of the Worcester County Agricultural Society, a member of the 
American Pomological Society, and is prominent in the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society. Mr. Hadwen's unusual abilites have been recognized 
by the State, and he was for many years a trustee of the Agricultural College 
at Amherst, where, under his direction as chairman of the board, many 
important additions were made. He has been one of the commissioners in 
charge of the public parks of Worcester since 1867, and the value of his 
services in this capacity is evidenced by his continuous appointments to this 
position. Mr. Hadwen has until lateh" served as chairman of the Parks 
Commission, and is still a member of that board. 

In politics Mr. Hadwen has been successively a Whig, a Free-Soiler, and 
Republican. He was a member of the Common Council of Worcester in 
1868 and 1869, but his natural tastes have not led him to mingle actively 
in politics. He has for many years been a member of the Society of 
Friends. 

Mr. Hadwen married Harriet Page of Westminster, Vermont. Two sons 
and a daughter have blessed this union. The latter married John H. Coes 
of the Coes Wrench Company of this city. One of the sons, Charles Hadwen, 
is a prominent produce merchant in Chicago, and the other, William E. 
Hadwen, is now deceased. 

Andrew Hill Hammond was born in the now deserted mountain district 
of the town of Alton, Xew Hampshire, August 3, 1830. During his infancy 
his parents removed to Gilmanton, and his early years were spent upon a 
farm, with such educational advantages as the country schools afforded. 
After reaching the age of nine, he resided several years with his grand- 
parents in the "Gore" district of his native town, and was under the tuition 
of his maternal uncle. Jonathan Prescott Hill, a surveyor, mathematician 
and schoolmaster of note in that region. Mr. Hill was grandson of Doctor 
Jonathan Hill, who married iMercy Prescott from the family of that name 
in the town of Digby, England. Mr. Hammond's experience during this 
period was of great benefit to him in after years, as he formed a taste for 
study, and made great progress in the rudiments of a sound education. 
Returning to his familv home at Gilmanton, he attended the academy and 
worked on the farm, and at the age of eighteen went to Manchester to 
learn the iron-moulders' trade, going from that place to Lake Village (now 
Lakeport), in the city of Laconia, where he worked in a foundry until, in 
1851, he came to Worcester and found employment at the Malleable Iron 
Works of Waite, Chadsey & Co. Later he worked in the foundries of 
Goddard, Rice & Co. and William A. Wheeler, but the business became 
distasteful, and he sought something more congenial. 

^Ir. Hammond always had great interest in music and devoted much 
time to its study. S. R. Leland, Albert S. Allen and E. S. Xason were 
among his teachers. After acquiring the necessary proficiency he went 




HENRY F. HARRIS. 



The Worcester of 1898. 645 

West to teach singing-schools, traveling down the Ohio river and up the 
Mississippi, returning to Worcester by the way of Chicago, then a small 
place. Continuing the study of music he soon obtained a situation in the 
organ-reed factory of Augustus Rice and Edwin Harrington in the Junc- 
tion shop, receiving at first seventy-five cents per day. Here his inventive 
propensity and capacity developed. He originated new methods and appli- 
ances, which increased the quantity and improved the quality of the prod- 
uct, and was soon placed in charge of the work. Meanwhile the business 
had been purchased by other parties, who contracted to allow Mr. Ham- 
mond the benefit of any and all improvements introduced by him. So great 
an advantage was conveyed in this privilege that the proprietors found 
it for their interest to make him an equal partner with them. Later 
he purchased his partner's interests and became sole owner of the busi- 
ness. 

In 1868 Mr. Hammond built the first factory on May street, and has 
added thereto until it is now the largest of its kind in the world, equipped 
with special machinery conceived and constructed by him. In 1892 the 
Hammond Reed Company was incorporated, with Mr. Hammond as presi- 
dent, and his son, Richard Hill Hammond, acting treasurer and general 
manager. 

Not only are many of the most important discoveries and improvements 
in the method of manufacturing organ-reeds due to the inventive genius 
and practical ability of Mr. Hammond, but he has also exhibited tact and 
good sense in dealing with the commercial world. 

While Mr. Hammond has devoted his energies principally to the manage- 
ment and details of his business, he has always been a great reader and 
thinker, and possesses a large and well-chosen library in his beautiful home 
on Claremont street. 

Mr. Hammond married in i860 R. Maria Barber, daughter of Benjamin 
Barber, a woman of rare accomplishments, whose worth gave the stimulus 
and purpose that had before been wanting. Of six children by this mar- 
riage four are now living: Nellie Prescott, Alice Barber, Richard Hill and 
Mabel Florence. 

Inheriting from a New England father and clergyman the strongest anti- 
slavery convictions, Mr. Hammond followed the consistent Abolitionists 
through the Free-Soil into the Republican party, from which he has never 
strayed nor sought public recognition. To live in the time of the world's 
greatest progress and contribute a little to the unfolding of man's destiny 
fills the measure of ambition, and is all anyone can do. 

Henry F. Harris, son of Charles Morris and Emily (Dean) Harris, was born 
in the village of Harrisville, WestBoylston, Massachusetts, August 19, 1849. 
On his paternal side he comes from Thomas Harris, who, with his brother, 
William Harris, left the Massachusetts Bay Colony for Rhode Island with 
Roger Williams. On the maternal side he is descended from Governor 
Thomas Dudley of Massachusetts Bay Colony. He received his education 
in the common schools and at various academies, and was graduated at 
Tufts College in 1871, ranking first in his class. He studied law at the 



646 



The Worcester of 1898. 



Harvard Law School with Honorable Hartley Williams of "Worcester, and at 
the Boston University Law School, graduating in the first class of that 
institution in 1873. While in the latter school he studied law in the office 
of John A. Loring of Boston. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 
December of the same year. On the first day of January, 1874, he began 
the practice of law in Worcester, residing in West Boylston until his marriage 
in 1883, when he removed his residence to Worcester, where he has continued 
to reside to the present time. 

In addition to his law business ilr. Harris, since 1880, has been connected 
with manufacturing interests, succeeding his father, at his decease in 1889. 
who was a prominent cotton manufacturer, as treasurer of the West Boylston 




RESIDENCE OF HENRY F. HARRIS, 67 LINCOLN STREET. 



Manufacturing Company, whose extensive property at West Boylston was 
purchased by the Metropolitan Water Commission. He is also president of 
the L. yi. Harris Manufacturing Company. In Worcester he is connected 
as director and solicitor with the management of the Worcester Safe Deposit 
& Trust Company, and is a director of the First National Insurance 
Company. He is also one of the trustees of the WorcesterCity Hospital anda 
member of the School Committee. In the School Board he is a member of 
the Committee on Books and Supplies and on Finance and Printing, and 
chairman of the Committee on Rules and Regulations. He is a member of 
the Hancock Club, a prominent Free Mason, and is associated with other 
organizations. In politics he is a Republican, and has ever been a zealous 
worker for the success of the party, and has several times been tendered the 
nomination fnr various ])ublir offices, all nf which he has declined Viecause ot 



The Worcester of 1898. 647 

the arduous duties as treasurer of the West Boylston ^lanufacturing Com- 
pany, and of his extensive practice. ^Mr. Harris was married May 17, 1883, 
to Emma Frances Dearborn, the well-known and popular singer of 
Worcester. They have two children: Rachel, born December 11, 1887, and 
Dorothy, born ^larch 22, 1890. They have an elegant home surrounded by 
ample and well-kept grounds at No. 67'Lincoln street. 

Calvin L. Hartshorn was born in Worcester Christmas day, 1832. He is 
descended from one of the old Xew England families, the original ancestor 
in this country having come from England about the middle of the 
seventeenth century. Later the family was prominent in Dedham, Norfolk 
county, in this state. Jonas Hartshorn, the father of Calvin, lived for a 
time in Boylston, and afterwards was a turnkey at the Worcester jail. 
When he relinquished that position he purchased a farm on Burncoat street, 
where the subject of this sketch was born, and lived during his early years. 
He received the usual education in the common schools of the time, supple- 
mented by terms at the Worcester Academy and the Esse.x Seminary (now 
Essex Academy), Essex, Connecticut. He was brought up to work on the 
farm, and when he began for himself he bought the milk business connected 
with it, which is still carried on, and is the oldest milk route in Worcester, 
having been established in 1838. He lived for about four years on Lovell 
street, and then returned to the Hartshorn farm, and has continued to reside 
there to the present time. This farm, of which hisson, Arthur E. Hartshorn, 
is now the manager, comprises about eighty-five acres, and is considered 
one of the best in the county. It is now known as the Walnut Hill farm, 
and is particularly adapted to fruit-raising and market-gardening. Mr. 
Hartshorn has engaged in these specialties with unusual success, the products 
of his farm having won many premiums at fairs and agricultural exhibits. 
In the management and cultivation of this large tract, Mr. Hartshorn has 
shown exceptional ability, and farming with him has been a source of profit 
as well as satisfaction. 

Mr. Hartshorn, while never seeking office, has been called to fill important 
and useful positions by his fellow citizens, who have esteemed his services 
highly. In 1S70 he was elected a member of the Common Council of 
Worcester, and was a member of that body four years. Here hewas largely 
instrumental in securing fire apparatus on the west side of the city, which 
at that time was entirely without protection in that respect, and his efforts, 
with those of others, resulted in the building of the Winslow street engine- 
hnuse. He also favored the introduction of chemical fire-e.xtinguishers, and 
was influential in overcoming opposition to their use. In the laying out and 
building of the boulevard, while not the prime mover, he was very influential, 
and to his earnest advocacy and untiring zeal the success of the plan was 
largely due, and the people of Worcester now enjoy the outcome "f his 
foresight and public spirit. So little was this undertaking appreciated at 
the time that a prominent and wealthy citizen told Mr. Hartshorn that the 
contemplated road was so far from ^lain street that it would not be used and 
that grass would grow in it. 




CALVIN L. HARTSHORN. 



THE Worcester of 1898. 649 

Mr. Hartshorn served two years — 1879 and 1S80 — in the Legislature. He 
was for twelve years a member of the Board of Overseers of the Poor, and 
a member of the Parks Commission in 1897, resigning the last named office 
in consequence of the pressure of other business. He has been several times 
importuned to run for alderman, but has declined. In 1881, in spite of his 
positive declination to be a candidate, he received 1,571 votes for mayor, 
against 2,971 for E. B. Stoddard, the Citizens' nominee, who was elected. 

Mr. Hartshorn has practically retired from business, though he is as active 
as ever. He has of late years traveled considerably, visiting the West and 
South. He is a man of genial and social disposition, whose qualities have 
gained him a wide acquaintance and a large circle of friends. He is a 
member of Morning Star Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and for many years has 
been a member of the Worcester County Horticultural Society, and is a 
trustee of that institution as well as of the Worcester Agricultural Society. 

Mr. Hartshorn was for twelve years a member of the State Board of 
Agriculture, and for six years was on the Executive Committee of that 
board. On September 9, 1891, Governor Russell appointed him a member 
of the State Dairy Bureau, which position he held about five years, being 
reappointed by Governor Greenhalge in 1894. Mr. Hartshorn was for four 
years a member of the Board of Directors of the State Experimental Station 
at Amherst. He has been a justice of the peace continuously since 1876, 
having been first appointed by Governor Rice. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Hartshorn were charter members of Worcester Grange, 
Patrons of Husbandry, of which he was master for five years. He is a 
member of the Dewey Street Baptist Church. 

On September 30, 1858, Mr. Hartshorn married Helen Marcilia Marcy, a 
native of Charlton. Two children, a son and daughter, were born of this 
union. Arthur Ernest resides at the farm, of which he has the care, and 
Annie M. is the wife of W. K. Stanley, who has long been connected with 
the Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Company. 

Russell Lorenzo Hawes, M. D., son of Amos and Mary (Forbush) Hawes, 
Avas born in Leominster, Massachusetts, March 22, 1823. Through his 
paternal grandmother, Sarah Leland, he was descended in the seventh 
generation from Henry, the progenitor in this country of the Leland 
family, who came to America in 1652. His father and others of the 
family spelled the surname Haws, but the subject of this sketch preferred 
to add the c. He received his early education in the public schools of his 
native town, and studied medicine with his family physician in Leominster, 
attended medical lectures at Boston and New York, and received his 
degree from Harvard Medical School in 1843. He very soon began the 
practice of his profession in Worcester, but the bent of his mind was in 
another direction, and his genius manifested itself in the field of invention, 
and produced marvelous results. In some way his attention was drawn to 
the paper-making machinery in the manufactory of Goddard, Rice & Co., 
and he made several valuable improvements, and in the interest of that 
firm visited Europe. After his return his most successful efifort, the 
envelope-machine, was brought to a degree of perfection and put in 



650 



The Worcester of 189S. 




RUSSELL L. HAWES. 



manufacture with George T. 
Valley. He was one of the 



operation, and was a w<in(ler of the time, 
the first machine-made envelopes being 
produced by it, and these were sent out 
from Worcester to supply the markets 
of the world, and brought a large return 
to the inventor. This was the founda- 
tion of the great envelope industry of 
to-day. Doctor Hawes also originated 
se\'eral other imjirovements, machines and 
methods, among them the Gaines print- 
ing-press, a wrygler used in woolen manu- 
facture, and a machine for making paper 
hags and one for printing wall-paper. His 
inventions had an important connection 
with the industries of Worcester, and lie 
acquired a handsome fortune as the reward 
of his efforts. Dtiring the last years of 
his life he was engaged in the woolen 
Rice and Benjamin Bottomly at Cherry 
original directors of the W^orcester Gas 
Light Company, and was connected with that corporation as long as he 
lived; a director of the Worcester Bank, a member of the Massachusetts 
Medical Society, and of the Worcester County Mechanics Association. He 
married, October 5, 1858, at Lowell, Susie A., daughter of Elisha and 
vSusan Fuller, who with one daughter and one son survives him. His health 
failing he with his wife in 1866 visited Europe, and his death occurred at 
Nice, France, on the 20th of February, 1867. 

■' It may be truthfully said of Doctor Hawes that he possessed a remarkable 
combination of qualities. Perhaps there is no union more rare than that 
of marked inventive genius and distinguished practical and financial talent 
in the same head. Both of these he possessed, as is fully recorded on the one 
hand by the men of power in the mechanical departments of life, and on the 
other by the men of business and finance. He was a man of integrity and 
of great exactness in every detail. For years he was entrusted with the 
management of one or more of the leading corporations of this city, and 
for years to come he will be remembered as a man faithful in every 
relation of life in which he was called to stand."* 

Richard Healyf was born in Ireland April 5, 1843, and received his educa- 
tion there. After serving an apprenticeship in the dry-goods business, and 
at the age of twenty-one, he came to America. Landing in New York he 
proceeded to Boston and engaged as salesman with Hogg, Brown tV' Taylor, 
the well-known dry-goods dealers, and remained in that situation two 
vears. He then returned to New York, where he was with |. & C. lohnson 



*From the obituary notice published in the report of the Worcester County Mechanics 
Association. 

fSee portrait on page 379. 



The Worcester of 1898. 651 

as salesman for a number of years, leaving them to fill the position of 
superintendent of certain departments in the store of A. T. iStewart. 

In 1874 Mr. Healy entered into business for himself in the line of ladies' 
cloaks, suits and furs on Sixth avenue, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth 
streets, and later in partnership with E. J. Conway enlarged the business 
to include ladies' underwear and general furnishing goods. This enterprise 
was relinquished after a time. 

In 1882 jMr. Healy came to Worcester and established the cloak, suit 
and fur business at 512 Main street, which he has successfully conducted 
to the present time, occupying to-day the same location. In 1892 he 
opened a similar store at Albany, New York, both establishments main- 
taining a high reputation in the trade. 

Mr. Healy's business interests demand his energies and attention so that 
he has little time to devote to other and outside matters. He is, however, 
president of the Bay State Savings Bank, and is a member of the Worcester 
Board of Trade. He married, July 20, 1886, Mary Frances Phipps of 
Hopkinton, who is descended from Sir William Phipps. 

Samuel R. Haywood* was born in Princeton, Alassachusetts. His boyhood 
days were spent upon the farm on the side of Wachusett ^fountain, with 
such advantages of education as the district schools of his native town 
afforded. Later he attended two terms at Westminster Academy, and on 
leaving that institution was employed in a country store for nearly four 
years in Princeton, Massachusetts, kept by Edward A. Goodnow. After- 
wards he became one of the firm of Heywood & Warren in Hubbardston, 
Massachusetts, subsequently buying out his partner. He conducted an 
extensive country store business. 

Mr. Heywood came to Worcester in 1855, and entered into a partnership 
with E. A. Goodnow, in the wholesale and retail boot and shoe trade. This 
connection was dissolved the following year, the retail business being taken 
by Mr. Heywood, who continued it until 1864, when he began to manufac- 
ture boots and shoes, which business he has successfully conducted to the 
present time. In 1884 the Heywood Boot & Shoe Company was incorpo- 
rated, with its founder as president. 

Mr. Heywood was a member of the Common Council of Worcester in 
1S59, 1872, 1873, being president the latter year, and an alderman in i860 
and 1861. He was a representative in the General Court in 1875. 1S76 and 
1877, and was a member of the Railroad Committee each year. He has 
served as trustee of several of the state industrial and reformatory schools. 
He is connected with several financial institutions, and has been presi- 
dent of the People's Savings Bank since July, 1884. He is esteemed 
among his business associates for his sound practical judgment and 
careful management in financial concerns as well as for his hearty and 
genial disposition. He has been a member of Plymouth Congregational 
Church since its organization, and is connected with other charitable and 
public societies. 



■ See portrait on page 



652 The Worcester of 1898. 

^Ir. Heywood married in 1856 Harriet Butler Milliken of Chelsea, and 
they have had five children, of whom two sons survive, Frank E. (H. U. 
1882), treasurer of the Heywood Boot & Shoe Company, and Albert S., a 
graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology' in 1892. He is an 
electrical engineer, and has been in the employ of the Thomson-Houston 
and General Electric Companies since his graduation, being located at 
Atlanta, (ieorgia. 

Samuel Elbridge Hildreth,* son of Royal and Adaline (Gerry) Hildreth, was 
horn in Brattlehorough, Vermont, December 8, 1829. He was descended in 
the seventh generation from Richard Hildreth, who came from England to 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1643, through Isaac," Isaac,' Samuel,'' Isaac,' 
Royal." His mother was of that family whose most famous representative, 
Elbridge Gerry, was in public life from 1773 to his death in 1814, and was 
successively a signer of the Declaration of Independence, governor of 
Massachusetts, and vice-president of the United States. 

When the subject of this sketch was two years of age, his parents returned 
to Chesterfield, New Hampshire, where they had formerly resided, and 
where he remained until the death of his father, three years later. Then 
an aunt took him to her home in Connecticut, where he remained till he 
was nearly sixteen years of age. At that period he came to this city, which 
was his home ever- after. In the meantime his mother had married Jona- 
than Sawyer, and had become a resident of Worcester, bringing here her 
other sons, Bradley G., George G. , and Isaac. In this place his first work 
was in a printing-office, but six months of that labor convinced the hul 
that composing-stick and rule were not to his mind, and he left the art ])re- 
servative to become a worker in metals. He learned the machinists' trade 
with Alexander and Sewall Thayer in the old Court Mills. Afterward he 
worked for Samuel Flagg till 1854, the date of the burning of the Merrifield 
buildings, where the shop was located. Then came nearly twenty years' 
service with the late L. W. Pond, to whom he proved himself a valuable 
helper. In this business, which grew to be one of the largest in the coun- 
try, ^Ir. Hildreth was an important factor, his mechanical ability enabling 
him to improve upon many appliances then in use, securing patents fur 
improved drills and planes. He became Mr. Pond's foreman and finally 
his superintendent. In May, 1873, he began business for himself in buying 
a third interest in the business of P. Blaisdell & Company, and under this 
firm name his work continued to the last. His partners at the end were 
John P. Jones and Enoch Earle, their business the making of machinists' 
tools, in which line they had few if any superiors. 

.Mr. Hildreth's entrance upon i)ublic life was in 1866, when he represented 
Ward 3 in lire Common Council. The next two years he was an alderman. 
In 1872 he was sent as representative to the Cieneral Court, and in 1882 he 
was elected mayor of the city as an out-and-out Republican. In his admin- 
istration he manifested the same practical sense which had characterized the 
conduct of his own business, and retired from the office with credit and honor. 

*See portrait on page 62. 



The Worcester of 1898. 653 

His next public position was as a member of the School Board, to which 
he was elected from Ward 7 in 1887, and in which he continued until his 
death. His devotion to all the details of this office was noteworthy. Per- 
haps no member of the School Board ever gave so much attention to the 
subject of manual training as did the ex-mayor, and Worcester owes much 
to him for the establishment of this system. 

Mr. Hildreth was a member of the Worcester County Mechanics Associa- 
tinn, and in 1885-1886 its president. He belonged to the Worcester Society 
of Antiquity, to the Brigade Club, and to the order of United American 
Workmen. He was a Knight of Pythias, and passed all the degrees of 
Masonry. He was a member of Piedmont Church. His death occurred 
after a brief illness, June 25, 1S93. 

!Mr. Hildreth married in 1852 Miss Matilda Coleman Howe. Of three 
children, only Charles Elbridge survived childhood. This son continues on 
the business relations owned by his father. 

The tribute paid to the memory of ^Ir. Hildreth by his former pastor 
contained the following: 

" He had an instinct for work. He had untiring patience. His broad 
shoulders in his days of health invited responsibility. He was an ardent 
patriot, a true philanthropist. He loved his city; he loved his country; he 
loved his fellow men, and as opportunity offered, private or public, his 
highest ambition was to serve them in all that was noblest and best. He 
made for himself a clean record." 

George F. Hoar.* The Worcester man most prominent in the public eye 
in this anniversary year is the Honorable George Frisbie Hoar, the senior 
United States senator from Massachusetts. Since 1877 Worcester has been 
especially honored in the choice of one of its citizens to represent the State 
in the higher branch of Congress, and the influence which Mr. Hoar has 
carried in that body from the beginning of his service has gained for him a 
foremost place in the councils of the nation. 

Only one other resident of Worcester ever attained the high office of 
United States senator. John Davis was elected to that position in 1835, 
serving one term, and was again returned in 1845, finally retiring in 1853. 
Levi Lincoln, while serving as governor of the Commonwealth, would in 
1827 undoubtedly have been chosen senator if he had not positively de- 
clined in favor of Daniel Webster, which opened to the latter the opportunity 
til make his famous reply to Hayne. 

George F. Hoar was born in Concord, Massachusetts, August 29, 1826. 
His ancestors have been prominent in Massachusetts from early times. 
Ji>hn Hoar, an early ancestor who came to this country with his mother, 
was a fellow worker with John Eliot in his missionary efforts among the 
Indians, and is remembered for his successful rescue and ransom of Mrs. 
Rowlandson, one of the captives from the town of Lancaster during the 
period of King Philip's War. Leonard Hoar, a brother of John, was 
president of Harvard College from 1672 to 1675. Samuel Hoar, father of 
the senator, was a lawyer of eminence, generally kncjwn and respected in 

* See portrait on page 312. 



654 The Worcester of 1898. 

his time for solid worth and useful service. He was one term a representa- 
tive in Congress, and was chosen by Massachusetts to test in the courts of 
South Carolina the constitutionality of the laws of that State under which 
free colored citizens entering it from other parts of the Union were im- 
prisoned. He was prevented by violent demonstration from discharging 
his mission, and this episode greatly inflamed popular feeling in both 
sections of the country. Senator Hoar's mother was the youngest daughter 
of Roger Sherman of Connecticut, who was one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, one of the framers of the Constitution, 
judge, and later representative to Congress, and United States senator. 

Senator Hoar was graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1846, and 
studied law with Benjamin F. Thomas and at the Harvard Law School. 
He entered upon the practice of his profession in Worcester in 1849, '^^1 
devoted himself closely to its duties for twenty years, attaining a position 
at the bar second to none, and acquiring a facility and discipline of mind 
which particularly fitted him for public life. He early participated in 
politics, and made speeches in the City Hall and in the neighboring town 
of Shrewsbury during the Free-Soil campaign of 1850. In 185 1 he was 
■elected a representative from Worcester in the General Court, and was a 
member of the State Senate in 1857. In 1869 he entered the United 
States House of Representatives as a member of the Forty-first Congress, 
and at once came into prominence in consequence of his efforts in behalf 
of national education. He was soon known as a ready and effective 
debater, and in succeeding Congresses took part in the discussion of many 
important questions, notably those concerning elections and political 
disorders. He originated the bill to establish a bureau of labor statistics, 
and the Eads jetty bill was saved by his timely support. He was a mem- 
ber of the Electoral Commission of 1877. 

In 1876 Mr. Hoar declined to be again a candidate for representative, 
and the succeeding winter was elected to succeed the Honorable George S. 
Boutwell in the United States Senate. Here he has been a member and 
chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, a member of 
the Committee on Claims, on the Library, chairman on the Judiciary, 
and others. He has been three times reelected, and Charles Sumner 
alone, among Massachusetts senators, has exceeded him in length of 
service. 

Mr. Hoar has always been active as a citizen at home, taking a close 
interest in the affairs of his adopted city. His energies have not wholly 
been given to politics, and he has found time to devote to literature, and 
to the kindred subjects of art and science. He is an active member of the 
American Antiquarian Society and of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
and was several years president of the former body; is a trustee of the 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute and one of the corporators of Clark 
University. He delivered the oration on the two hundredth anniversary 
of the naming of Worcester in 1884, and the one at the centennial of the 
founding of Marietta, Ohio, in 1888. He has received the degree of LL. D. 
from Harvard and other colleges. 



The Worcester of 189S. 



655 




HORACE HOBBS. 



Mr. Hiiar was married in 1853 to Mary 
Louisa Spurr, who died leaving two chil- 
dren, a daughter and a son, Rockwood 
Hoar, a well-known member of the Worces- 
ter bar. Mr. Hoar married, second, Ruth 
Ann, a daughter of the late Henry W. 
Miller of Worcester. 

Horace Hobbs was born in Sterling, 
Massachusetts. His father, the late Major 
General George Hobbs, was for many 
years a prominent citizen and real-estate 
owner in this city, and active in the 
militia, in which he attained high honors. 
Coming to Worcester in 1839 the son 
engaged for several years in civil engi- 
neering and surveying. In 1854, when 
Eli Thayer made his stirring appeal for 
free Kansas, Mr. Hobbs was one of the 

first to respond, and took part in the first practical and effective resistance 
ever made against slavery by joining the Free State emigrants to the disputed 
territory. He was in a cavalry company in the town of Lawrence at the 
time of the border ruiifian invasion from Missouri, and he remained in 
Kansas until hostilities ceased. In the War for the Union he served his 
country as captain of Company H, Fifty-first Regiment, Massachusetts 
Volunteers, in 1863. Since 1876 Captain Hobbs has been examiner of 
titles at the Worcester County Registry of Deeds. He is a member of the 
Loyal Legion and of the Grand Army of the Republic. He married, first, 
Mary Parker. Of their two children, William H. is professor of geology 
at the Wisconsin State University at Madison, and Cora L. is a clerk in 
the Registry of Deeds. He married, second, Maria Knowles: their young- 
est son, Howard K., served in the vSecond Massachusetts Regiment in the 
battle of Santiago in 1898. 

Captain Hobbs has always been a Republican, never voted for a Demo- 
crat, and has never failed to vote since he became of age. He has always 
been identified with Worcester, although he lived for a few years in the 
adjoining town of Auburn. 

William Swinton Bennett Hopkins* was born in Charleston, South Carolina, 
May 2, 1836. He came "i distinguished ancestry on both sides. His father, 
Erastus Hopkins, was a prominent political leader of western Massachusetts 
fifty years ago, an early Free-Soiler and Republican, and a member of the 
National Convention of i860 which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the 
presidency. His great-grandfather, vSamuel Hopkins, D. D., was minister 
of Hadley fifty-four years, and was son of Samuel Hopkins, D. D., of West 
Springfield, who married a sister of Jonathan Edwards. In another branch 
of the family was President Mark Hopkins of Williams College, and their 



'See portrait on page 130. 



656 The Worcester of 1898. 

comnmn ancestiir in America was John Hopkins, who came from London 
to Cambridge with the Reverend Mr. Hooker in 1633. 

The mother of Colonel Hopkins was Sarah Hannah Bennett, a descendant 
of Thomas Bennett, who came from England to Charleston and married 
Mary Swinton, whose father came from Scotland and was of a very ancient 
Scotch family. Their son, Thomas, married Hayes Singletary, daughter 
of John Singletary of St. Paul's parish, South Carolina, and as a second 
wife Anna Hayes Warnock. His maternal grandfather, William Swinton 
Bennett, married Anna Theus, daughter of Major Simon Theus, a Revo- 
lutionary patriot, and Rebecca Legare. Both were Huguenots. The inter- 
marriages of these families form connections with the Swinton, Lucas, 
Gadsden and other well-known South Carolina families. 

The education of the subject of this sketch was received in public and 
private schools, and at Williams College, where he was graduated in the 
class of 1855. He began the study of law in the office of the Honorable 
William Allen at Northampton, and continued it at the Harvard Law 
School. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1858, and in August of 
that year opened an office in Ware, Massachusetts, where he continued to 
practise until the outbreak of the Rebellion. He entered the service in 
October, 1861, as captain in the Thirty-first Massachusetts Volunteers; was 
afterward promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy, and was in command of 
the regiment from the ist of November following to the 8th of April, 1864. 
He went out in the first New Orleans expedition, in the ship which carried 
General Butler. His regiment was the first to land at New Orleans, and it 
remained in the city till August, 1862, and then passed six months in gar- 
rison at Fort Jackson. He participated in the Teche campaign in 1863, 
and was in the siege of Port Hudson, with its three bloody assaults. He 
remained at Baton Rouge till December, when his regiment was converted 
into cavalry, and in 1864 took part in the Red River expedition. Soon 
after he resigned and was honorably discharged. He was in legal practice 
in New Orleans from May, 1864, to September, 1869, during that time 
acting as special counsel for the United States Treasury. He returned to 
Massachusetts and opened an office in Greenfield in October, 1866, and 
remained there till 1873, when he removed to Worcester, and became the 
partner of the late Honorable Peter C. Bacon, and later was associated with 
Henry Bacon and Frank B. Smith. 

Colonel Hopkins was district attorney for the Northwestern District of 
^lassachusetts from 1871 to 1874, and served in the same office in the 
Middle District from 1884 to 1887. He became city solicitor of Worcester 
in 1893, and resigned that office in 1897 in consequence of the pressure of 
(Hher business. He was the first commander of the Worcester Continentals, 
and served twelve years, and is a member of the Grand Army. 

In politics Colonel Hopkins has always been a Republican. He took the 
stump for Fremont before he was of age, and he has been active in succeed- 
ing campaigns. In 1880 he was a member of the National Convention that 
nominated James A. Garfield, who was his college-mate. He presided over 
the Republican State Convention in Boston in 1S97. He has never held 



The Worcester of 1S98. 657 

political office other than that connected with his profession. Colonel 
Hopkins is prominently connected with various social and other bodies, a 
member of the Sigma Phi at Williams College, of the New York and the 
Boston University Clubs, and in this city is president of the Worcester 
Club. In his profession he has attained the front rank, and is recognized 
among his professional brethren as a leader at the bar. In 1S95 his alma 
mater conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. 

Colonel Hopkins was married in 1859 to Elizabeth Sarah Peek of East- 
hampton. They have four children: Sarah Bennett, P2rastus, Elizabeth 
Peek and William S. B., Junior. 

Charles Henry Hutchins, president of the Crompton & Knowles Loom 
Works, and of the United States Envelope Company, is a native of East 
Douglas, Massachusetts, and was born January 13, 1847. His father, 
Charles Hutchins, was born in Elaine, the son of a sea captain' of that 
State. He married in 1837 Harriet X., daughter of Oliver Hunt of Doug- 
las, ^lassachusetts, founder of the Douglas Axe Company, and removed to 
that town to become superintendent of the axe works, which were among 
the first in that branch of industry in the U^nited States. 

ilr. Hutchins received his education in the common schools and the high 
school of his native town, but was required by his father, who trained him 
from early boyhood to habits of industry, to spend his spare hours and 
vacations in the axe works, and in this way he gained a practical knowl- 
edge of machinery, and acquired some understanding of business methods, 
remaining at the shop with his father two years after leaving school. 
During this period he cultivated those qualities and developed those 
traits of character which have since distinguished him in a marked degree 
as a man of integrity and ability. At the age of eighteen he became a 
clerk in the countr\' store at East Douglas, and continued in that situation 
two years, leaving it in 1867 to enter the dry-goods store of Horace Sheldon 
& Co. in Worcester, with which establishment he was connected until 1874. 

In 1873 Mr. Hutchins was married to Eliza E. Knowles, daughter of the 
late Francis B. Knowles, one of the founders of the Knowles Loom W^orks. 

In 1S74 he became interested in the manufacture of tape and webbing 
under the firm name of C. H. Hutchins & Co. This concern later be- 
came the Hutchins Narrow Fabric Company, and the business prospered 
greatly. After the death of Mr. L. J. Knowles in 1884, Mr. Hutchins 
became connected with the firm of L. J. Knowles & Brother, loom-builders, 
and finding within a short time that this demanded his whole attention and 
energy, he sold out his interest in the narrow-fabric business. The Knowles 
Loom Works was incorporated shortly after, with Mr. F. B. Knowles as 
president and Mr. Hutchins as treasurer, and on the death of Mr. Knowles 
in 1S90, :Mr. Hutchins was elected to the joint offices of president and 
treasurer, and held these positions until the consolidation with the Cromp- 
ton Loom Works. 

Under his able supervision the Knowles Loom Works achieved a remark- 
able growth and business success. Early in their history they established 
connections with an English firm at Dobcross, England, and in 1893 they 




CHARLES HENRY HUTCHINS. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



659 



bought the George W. Stafford Loom Works of Providence, Rhode Island, 
thus enlarging their scope and capacit}-. 

In March, 1897, the Knowles Loom Works and the Crompton Loom 
Works of Worcester consolidated under the name of the Crompton & 
Knowles Loom Works, organizing with Mr. Hutchins as its president, thus 
placing him at the head of one of the largest business enterprises of the 
country. During the present year he has also been chosen president of 
the United States Envelope Company, which includes ten of the largest 
envelope factories in this country, and without doubt is the largest companv 
ever formed for the manufacture of envelopes. 

Widely known by his connection with the loom business, Mr. Hutchins 
has many other large interests and responsibilities, being a director in five 




RESIDENCE OF CHARLES HENRY HUTCHINS, 835 MAIN STREET. 

cotton mills. He has large financial interests, is director in the Central 
National Bank, and a trustee of the People's Savings Bank of Worcester. 

While always discharging his political duties as an American citizen, the 
demands of his private business have uniformly caused him to decline 
office, which his friends have several times urged him to accept. 

With all the cares that his numerous duties entail upon him, he has 
always found time to devote much activity to the religious world, and has 
been a most generous supporter both in time and money to things charita- 
ble. He was one of the founders of the Hospital Cottages for Children at 
Baldwinsville, Massachusetts, and served as the honored president of the 
corporation for a number of years. He is also one of the Board of Directors 
of both the Home for Aged Men and the Home for Aged Women of 
Worcester. 




JOHN W. HOWE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 661 

He is a member of the Piedmont Congregational Church, and has always 
been one of its most active and generous supporters. In 1897 he was 
elected president of the Worcester Congregational Club, which is composed 
of members of all the Congregational bodies of Worcester and surrounding 
territory. 

In his home life he has shown the same devotion and integrity as in the 
business world. Blessed with a son and a daughter, the atmosphere of his 
home is one of frank and generous confidence and comradeship. 

Achieving in middle life a position attained by few at the end of their 
career, his inherent ability, untiring industry and sound principles have 
in combination furnished the key to his success. 

John Walker Howe. Mr. Howe was born in Holden January 20, 1S22. 
He was educated in the public schools of that town, and later engaged in 
the lumber business, and so continued until 1857, when he removed to 
Worcester. During his residence in Holden he was one of the selectmen. 
In 1859 he engaged in the wire-goods business in company with Mr. Norman 
P. Childs, under the firm name of Childs & Howe, purchasing the factory 
of Samuel Ayers, located on John street, Worcester. In 1864 Mr. Howe 
bought the City Hotel property, corner of Main and Thomas streets, and 
remodeled it for his wire business, and here it grew rapidly. In 1874 Mr. 
Howe and several gentlemen interested in the manufacture of wire goods 
formed a corporation under the name of the National Manufacturing Com- 
pany, and continued the industry on a much larger scale at the Main and 
Thomas street factory. In February, 1887, the business was removed to 
the new building erected for their use, corner of Union and School streets, 
and in May, 1897, having outgrown the premises, the large brick factory 
building. No. ig Union street, was purchased of Mr. Stephen Salisbury and 
occupied, after being made into a model shop, for the manufacture of wire 
goods. Mr. Howe never occupied public office except a term in the Com- 
mon Council. Mr. Howe married Miss Betsey Barton of Spencer, and has 
line daughter, the wife of Charles E. Grant of Worcester. 

Urgel Jacques, a contractor and builder of Worcester, was born in Con- 
trecceur, Vercheres county. Province Quebec, April 28, 1S49. He attended 
the country schools, which were French, until he was twelve years old; 
worked on the farm with his father for three years, and at the age of 
fifteen began to learn the carpenters' trade in a neighboring township. He 
worked in Montreal and places in the provinces until 1869, when he came 
to Worcester. 

When in Montreal he commenced the study of English, and his coming to 
Worcester was to study and become better acquainted with that language. 
He spent a year, working here and there, and using the opportunities for 
improvement that were offered free to young men in those days. 

Mr. Jacques entered the employ of Norcross Brothers in 1870, and was 
for two years one of their most efficient hands. He ne.xt worked for H. 
W. Eddy, and, having studied architectural drawing in the free evening 
schools for three winters, he became Mr. Eddy's foreman. He was with 




MARTIN V. B. JEFFERSON. 



The Worcester of if 



663 




URGEL JACQUES. 



him ten years. In 1882 Mr. Jacques 
-commenced business for himself, with a 
small shop on Cypress street. Later he 
removed his shop to North Foster street, 
and ten years ago he secured his present 
quarters at 13 Blackstone street. Here 
he has a shop and planing-mill. 

Among the many fine specimens of his 
contract work are the Sugden block, Spen- 
cer; Nickerson block, Leominster; St. 
Joseph's Church, Fitchburg; St. Anne's 
Church, Manchaug; Winslow block on 
Asylum street in this city, together with 
the power plant for the skating factory : 
the Winslow Surgery at City Hospital ; 
Brightside block on King street; the 
dwellings of Doctor Charles H. Perry, 
900 Main street; Thomas B. Hamilton, 

Germain street; Frank E. Higgins, 51 William street; refinished the in- 
terior of Colonel S. E. Winslow's residence at Leicester. He also remod- 
eled, rebuilt and made additions to the factory of Iver Johnson Company 
at Fitchburg. This was a $60,000 job. Last year he was the contractor 
who remodeled and changed the People's Savings Bank building in this 
city; and he is now at work on a large block at the corner of Pleasant and 
Chestnut streets, which he is erecting for Mr. Fred H. Daniels. 

Mr. Jacques was married in 1872 to Eveline Marie Chandonnet of St. 
Jean Deschaillons, Province of Quebec, and nineteen children have been 
born to them, five of whom are now living, two boys and three girls. The 
family now lives on Wall street, where Mr. Jacques owns four houses and 
two stores. 

He is a member of St. Joseph's Church, the St. Jean Baptiste Society, 
Worcester Lodge of Elks, Worcester County Agricultural Society, Worces- 
ter Mechanics Association and the Board of Trade. He is also a director 
in the Equity Coojierative Bank, and on the Appraisal Committee. 

Martin Van Buren Jefferson was born at Uxbridge, Massachusetts, May 
19, 1834. His grandfather served in the war of the Revolution and in the 
second war for independence in 1S12. His father dying when he was only 
eight years of age, he was sent to live with an uncle in Holden, where he 
was obliged to work hard upon the farm for his board and clothes, and was 
given such meagre schooling as the country district afforded. At the age 
of sixteen he returned to Uxbridge and learned the trade of shoemaking. 
By means of his earnings evenings and at off-times, he secured enough 
money to pay his tuition at the Uxbridge Academy, which he attended four 
years. In 1853 he engaged as brakeman and baggage-master on the Provi- 
dence & Worcester Railroad, which occupation was brought to a sudden 
termination by an unfortunate accident, in which he had an arm and leg 
broken. On his recovery, in 1854, he went to California, where he remained 



664 The Worcester of 1898. 

until iiS6o. Here his naturally enterprisini!; nature led him to success, for he 
was never idle nor discouraged in the face of difficulties. He at first kept 
a restaurant at San Jos6; then he engaged in selling fruit-trees at Sonera, 
and during the last four years he managed a large ranch with from 80 
to 100 cows, from which he sold the milk, and in this occupation made a 
large sum. He returned to Holden in i860, and entered into partnership 
with William Howe, whose daughter he married, succeeding the firm of 
Hall & Howe in the operation of a small woolen mill at Drydensville, now 
Jefferson. This connection under the name of Howe & Jefferson continued 
twenty-si.x years, when Mr. Jefferson acquired the sole interest, and still 
carries on the business. Under his judicious management the one-set 
factory was soon enlarged sixfold, and later another mill was erected, both 
comprising thirteen sets, and giving employment to 250 hands. Jefferson 
became a place of importance, with two railroad stations and a post office. 
In 1892 one mill and considerable other property of the Jefferson Manu- 
facturing Company was burned with a loss of $150,000; but a new mill 
with all the modern improvements was erected in its place. In 1893 the 
company purchased the Holden mills. 

Mr. Jefferson has always been a Republican, and cast his first vote for 
Fremont in 1856. In Holden he was ten years a selectman, serving part of 
this time as chairman of the board. After his removal to Worcester in 
1875, he became prominent in politics, and was a representative in the 
General Court in 1880 and 1881, and a member of the State Senate in 1884 
and 1885. In the Legislature he displayed the same ability which has dis- 
tinguished him in his business relations. He served on the important 
Committees on Railroads, the Treasury, and Labor. In 1888 he was chosen 
an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention, and in 1896 
he was a delegate to the Republican Convention which nominated William 
McKinley for president. He was appointed by Mayor Marsh a member of 
the License Commission of the city of Worcester, which office he still holds. 

Mr. Jefferson was several years a director of the Boston, Barre & Gardner 
Railroad, is president of the Cotton & Woolen Manufacturers' Mutual 
Insurance Company, and a director of the Ouinsigamond National Bank. 

Mr. Jefferson's marked ability in business and his integrity and prompt- 
ness in discharging financial obligations, have won for him the confidence 
and esteem of his associates and of the community in which he lives. 
Although past middle life, his activity is unabated, and the future bears 
the promise of many years of usefulness. 

Clark Jillson,* son of David, Junicjr, and Waity (Williams) Jillson, was 
born in Whitingham, ^'ermont, April ii, 1825. He was a descendant in 
the eighth generation from William Jillson or Gillson, who came from the 
county of Kent in England to Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1633, through 
James,- Nathaniel,^ Nathaniel,' Jonathan," David, '^ David.' Clark's mother 
died a few days after his birth, and his father in 182S married again and 
raised a numerous family. David jillsun, juninr, was a respected and use- 



^See portrait on page 52. 



The Worcester of 1898. 665 

fill citizen of Whitingham, a selectman four years, one year a representa- 
tive, and held various other offices. He was one of the founders of the 
academy in Whitingham, and took a deep interest in public affairs. In 
his family his discipline was severe, influenced by the code recognized in 
previous generations. 

Clark Jillson was brought up to hard work on the farm, and in assisting 
his father in his blacksmith shop. His earliest training was in the district 
school, which was two miles distant from his home. In 1841 the academj- 
was erected and he received the advantage of two terms' instruction in that 
institution, which only increased his desire for more learning, and his 
expressed purpose to obtain a liberal education caused a serious difference 
between the boy and his father, which resulted in an abrupt departure from 
the paternal roof. Clark made his way to Charlemont, Massachusetts, 
where an uncle gave him employment, and interposed when an attempt was 
made by the father to enforce his authority through process of law. The 
lad developed considerable skill in mechanical work, which gained him a 
situation in the Green River Cutlery Works of John Russell & Co., at 
Greenfield, where he continued a year, when he was prostrated by a severe 
illness, and on his recovery found himself heavily indebted to those who 
had cared for him during his sickness, and with the necessity of immediate 
and adequate exertion to relieve him from his difficulties staring him in the face. 

He left Whitingham with a companion on November lo, 1845, and arrived 
in Worcester on the afternoon of the next day, having made part of the 
journey on foot. Clark found work at the shop of Howe & Goddard on 
Union street at seventy-five cents per day, and during the next eight years 
was employed in the establishment of Tolman & Russell, carriage manufac- 
turers; Moses Clements, manufacturer of shear blades, and L. & A. G. Coes, 
wrench manufacturers, his experience and superior ability making his ser- 
vices valuable in all these places. In the meantime his hours which were 
not demanded for labor were improved in study, and in acquiring a famil- 
iarity with the English language and literature, and in preparing himself 
for the larger sphere which he was destined to fill. He began to write for 
the press, and in course of time contributed to several newspapers and 
magazines. In 1853 he read a poem before the Worcester County Mechan- 
ics Association, and the same year was elected president of the Young 
Men's Rhetorical Society, a body of much influence at that time. 

In May, 1854, Mr. Jillson removed to Southbridge, to become one of 
the editors of the Southbridge Press, and while there was nominated as a 
candidate for representative in the Legislature, but not having resided in 
that town long enough to meet the requirements of the Constitution, was 
debarred from election. During the next six years he was engaged in 
mechanical pursuits, and obtained a large number of patents, among them 
one for the first machine for reducing wire for sewing-machine needles. 
Sometime later he was interested in a method of heating buildings by 
qonveying hot air from a distance. 

On 20th day of February, i860, he was appointed clerk of the Police 
■(afterwards the Municipal and Central District) Court in Worcester, and 



606 The Worcester of 1898. 

held that office until 1871, when he was appointed chief justice of the First 
District Court of Southern Worcester, which position he resigned a short 
time before his death. 

As clerk he created a complete series of "complaint forms," which were 
a marvel of conciseness and accuracy, and became the model in the minor 
courts; and he carried to the bench the same clear common-sense which 
had characterized him in the subordinate place. His decisions on appeal 
were sustained in higher courts in larger proportion than is the fortune of 
the average minor courts. 

Judge Jillson was elected and served as mayor of Worcester in 1873, 1875 
and 1876, and was the first mayor who exercised the veto power, as well as 
the first under whose administration the city debt had been reduced in 
thirteen years. He was the first president of the Sons and Daughters of 
Vermont, and was vice-president and president of The Worcester Society 
of Antiquity. In the last named society his influence and services were 
preeminent, and he more than any other shaped the policy and sustained 
that institution during its early and successful period. He was the author 
of a large number of publications, including public addresses and a history 
of his native town, many of them being issued from his private press; and 
he took great delight in antiquarian literature, and gathered a rare collec- 
tion of early imprints dating from 1470. He was a man of great independ- 
ence of character, broad intelligence and executive force, and by those who 
most intimately knew him, his loss was deeply felt. His death occurred 
June 5, 1894. 

Judge Jillson was married in 1855 to Ruth Elizabeth Lille)% who died in 
1893. Of three children, Lewis Lilley died in 1870 at the age of ten years; 
Franklin Campbell, a practising physician of Boston, Massachusetts, and 
Mary, the wife of Henry L. Parker, Junior, of Worcester, survive. 

Frank H. Kelley, M. D.,* was born at New Hampton, New Hampshire, on 
the 9th of September, 1827. He attended the district school in his native 
town, and entered the academy there in 1840, where he remained three 
years. Subsequently he was a clerk in a dry-goods store, and in 1846 left 
New Hampton for Boston. Within a few months he engaged as a student 
of medicine with Doctor Bethuel Keith at Dover, New Hampshire. Doctor 
Keith kept at that time a small private hospital in connection with his 
general practice, and the situation thus afforded a fine opportunity for 
observation. The fall and winter of 1847-48 was passed at Cincinnati, 
Ohio, attending medical lectures, and he received his degree there. After 
the engagement with Doctor Keith terminated in 1849, one was formed 
with Doctor Aaron Ordway of Lawrence, which lasted until 1851, when 
Doctor Kelley removed to Worcester and entered into partnership with 
Doctor Calvin Newton. The latter shortly after engaged in other business 
and left his practice in Doctor Kelley's hands, and after Doctor Newton's 
death the entire charge fell to him, and he continued active in the duties 
of his profession until 1SS3, when ill health compelled him to retire. He 



* See portrait on page 5S. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



66^ 



remained in large and lucrative practice for the period of thirty-two years, 
and during that time enjoyed a wide and well-deserved popularity. His 
professional income for several years probably exceeded that of any other 
physician in the city. He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical 
Society in 1875, ^^'^ delivered the annual address before the Worcester 
District Medical Society in 1880. He was the first president of the Board 
of Trustees of the City Hospital in 1870, and served in that capacity 
thirteen years, besides being a member of the medical staff several years. 

While closely devoted to the duties of his profession, Doctor Kelley gave 
much time to public service. He was connected with the City Govern- 
ment for a period of twenty years, as member of the School Board two 
years, of the Common Council six years, of the Board of Aldermen eight 
years, and finally as mayor of the city in 1880 and 1881. It was during his 
mayoralty that the City Hospital building was begun, and the Board of 
Health was also established during his term. The details of his adminis- 
tration will be found in another part of this volume. 

Doctor Kelley married in 1853 Lucy Ellis Draper, who died in 1S73. 
They had two children. He married, second, in 1879, Mrs. Jennie P. 
^Martin, who survives him. He died October 26, 1890. 

Reverend G. W. Kent, minister nf the South Unitarian Church of Worces- 
ter, was born in London, England, and educated there, taking his course 
in divinity, however, in America, at St. Lawrence LTniversity in New 
York. Ordained in 1878, when only twenty-two years old, he has preached 
in the twenty years" since at Jamestown, New York; Peoria, Illinois; 
Halifax, Nova Scotia; Reading, Pennsylvania, and Worcester. During 
the five years of his ministry at Halifax, his was the only church of liberal 
Christian faith in the province, and he gave himself with characteristic 
energy to the missionary service called for, his sermons and addresses- 
being widely published. At Reading he was successful in securing the 
building of a new church, a window in 
which commemorates his services. 

Coming to Worcester about seven years 
ago as the first pastor of the South 
Unitarian Society, he found the little 
congregation worshiping in an improvised 
hall, an unoccupied store having been 
supplied with reading-desk and chairs. 
Minister and people have worked together 
with such unanimity and zeal that two 
years ago the beautiful brownstone church 
on Main street was erected, and the 
society has become one of the substantial 
working forces of the city. 

Mr. Kent's services are in frequent 
demand as a lecturer; he is also active 
in the work of his denomination, and is 
at present secretary of the old Worcester reverend george 





HENRY W. KING. 



The Worcester of 1898. 669 

Association, in which the Unitarian clergy of the county have found an 
intimate and helpful fellowship with one another for more than a century. 

Mr. Kent was married in 1883 to Miss Frances Comstock of Buffalo, and 
four children contribute to the charming domestic life of this one among 
the many happy homes of Worcester. 

Henry W. King was born in North Brookfield, ^tlassachusetts, on October 
14, 1856. He is the son of George and Jane (Adams) King. His ancestors 
on his father's side are of English descent, and were among the early 
settlers in the State of Connecticut. His grandfather, William King, 
during the latter part of the last century removed from Windham county, 
Connecticut, to Langdon, New Hampshire, where George King, father of 
the subject of this sketch, was born in 1S20. In 1836 George King re- 
moved to North Brookfield. 

Mr. King's mother, Jane Adams, was in the direct line of descent in the 
eighth generation from Henry Adams, the founder of the Adams family in 
this country, who settled in Braintree, now Quincy, in 1630. 

Mr. King was prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy and at 
Williston Seminary in Easthampton, and entered Cornell University in 1875. 
He studied law at the Harvard Law School, where he was a classmate of 
Judge Francis C. Lowell of the United States District Court, and of Judge 
Robert P. Grant. After leaving the law school he completed his prepara- 
tion for the practice of his profession in the law ofifice of Robert M. Morse 
and Richard Stone in Boston. He was admitted to the bar in the Supreme 
Judicial Court in Suffolk county. 

Upon his admission to the bar he began practice in North Brookfield. 
In January, 1881, he formed a partnership with the late Edmund B. 
Sprague and began to practise law in Worcester under the name of Sprague 
& King, still maintaining his office in North Brookfield. This copartner- 
ship continued until the fall of 1882, when it was dissolved, and each 
partner continued to practise separately. 

In February, 1884, after the death of the late Francis T. Blackmer, he 
entered into partnership with the late Honorable William W. Rice, under 
the style of Rice &■ King; in 1886 Mr. Rice's son, Charles M. Rice, was 
admitted into the firm, and the business continued under the name of 
Rice, King & Rice until the death of the senior partner in 1896. Since 
that time Mr. Charles M. Rice and Mr. King have continued the associa- 
tion, preserving the old name. The firm has always enjoyed a large 
general law business, and has also been more or less engaged as counsel 
in patent causes. Both members of the firm have long been admitted to 
practice in the United States courts. 

Mr. King has never sought public office of any kind. He has always 
devoted himself to the practice of his chosen profession without political 
aspirations. He is a member of the Worcester Club and of other associations. 

On ^larch 9, 1880, he was married to Florence W. LeFevre of Boston. 
They have one son, George Adams King, who was born December 28, 
1S83. Another son, William Whitney Rice King, born November i, 1892, 
died in infancy. 'Sir. King still retains his residence in North Brookfield. 




^ •'ji 




CHESTER W. KINGSLEY. 



The Worcester of 189S. 



671 




Homer R. King, son of :\Iarvin and 
Eunice B. (Alden) King, was born in 
Ludlow, Massachusetts, June 4, 1846. 
Marvin King, the son of a Revnhitionarv 
soldier, born January 20, 1807, is still 
living in good health in Ludlow, on the 
farm which he has cultivated for sixty- 
five years. The mother of Homer R.. 
Eunice Brown Alden, who died in 1873, 
was a direct descendant of John Alden 
of the Mayflower. The subject of this 
sketch was educated in the common and 
high schools of his native town, and for a 
time was engaged in teaching penmanship. 
At the age of si.xteen he enlisted, in 1863, 
in the Twenty-seventh Regiment, Massa- 

■' ° ' HOMER R. KIMG. 

chusetts Volunteers, as a member of Com- 
pany L and served to the end of the Civil War, being actively engaged 
much of the time. He was wounded in the jaw at Cold Harbor on the 
4th of June, 1864, and at Pittsburg on the i8th of July received another 
wound, in the hand. He participated in fifteen battles and was in 
the hospital three months. In June, 1S65, he was mustered out, and 
in March, 1866, he removed to Fair Play, South Park, Colorado, where 
he was engaged in placer gold mining for three years, working for others a 
portion of this time. Curing this period he held the various positions of 
justice of the peace, trial justice, and deputy clerk of Jef?erson county, 
Colorado. 

Mr. King returned East in 1869, and on December 2 of that year married 
Hattie L., daughter of Edward L. and Harriet A. (Fisk) Ward of Millbury. 
This change in his condition influenced him to remain in Massachusetts 
instead of returning to the West, as he had intended, and he purchased the 
farm of 140 acres at Tatnuck in Worcester, on which he now resides, and 
engaged extensively in buying and selling cattle, sometimes handling as 
many as a thousand head in a year. He keeps a dairy of from forty to one 
hundred cows. 

Mr. King served three years in the Common Council of Worcester as a 
member from Ward 8, and was also a member of the Board of Aldermen for 
an equal period. He is a member of the Masonic order; of Post 10, Grand 
Army of the Republic; of the Grange, and of the Order of American 
Mechanics. 

Chester W. Kingsley. AVorcester is fortunate in the generosity and 
public spirit of its own citizens, and in the philanthropy which has led men 
who live abroad, as well, to enrich our city through their admiration of its 
noble institutions. On this growing list of our city's benefactors stands 
the name of the Honorable Chester W. Kingsley of Cambridge, by whose 
generosity the great laboratories that bear his name have been added to the 
equipment of the Worcester Academy. 



6/2 The Worcester of 1898. 

^Ir. Kingsley is sprung from the best of New England stock, and unites 
in himself some of the strains that have given New England its distinctive 
character and glory. He was born in Brighton, Massachusetts, June g. 
1824, under those conditions of honest penury that have been the congenial 
soil frmii which so many of our great men have risen. He was the youngest 
child in his father's family of nine children, and in early manhood would 
pray, as his ambition was forming, that God would give him "a hand to 
get and a heart to give." The youth's spirit was prophetic of the future. 
Here in the young man was the potential energy that was to direct the man 
whose benefactions extend around the world. 

The opportunities of the public schools of a small town si.\ty years ago 
gave him his one chance for an education; and he sustained himself in 
school by doing janitor's service at eight dollars for the winter. At ten 
years of age he sought his fortvine in the then distant State of ]\Iichigan. 
and within five years returned East, beginning his journey by a hundred- 
mile walk to Ann Arbor, carrying his shoes part of the way, that he might 
save them. 

Such incidents give the moral outlines of the boy, and indicate the large 
measure on which he was building his character. 

On leaving school he entered the State Bank of Brighton as a messenger 
and in two years he, was appointed teller. When twenty-seven years old he 
became cashier of the Cambridge Market Bank. In 1879 he was elected 
president of the National Bank of Brighton and filled this office eight years, 
until the bank closed its career, when each stockholder received $126 a 
share. In 1S65 !Mr. Kingsley became interested in mining, and is still 
actively concerned in the famous Excelsior mine of Northumberland, 
Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Kingsley's public services have been notable. Besides serving sev- 
eral terms in both branches of the State Legislature, he has given invaluable 
service to the city of Cambridge on the School Committee, on the Board 
of Aldermen and Water Board. He was for twenty-nine years on the last 
named board, and was for many years its president. The late Governor 
William E. Russell once said he was undoubtedly the most useful citizen 
Cambridge had ever had. 

Probably the most significant fact in Mr. Kingsley's life is his deep 
interest in education. Not educated himself, after the phrase of the schools, 
this man, who obtained as a boy only an elementary school training, and 
who was able to receive this only by doing humble duties, has had a great 
ambition to secure for others what was so largely denied to himself. His 
gifts to education alone aggregate several hundred thousand dollars, given 
widely and discriminatingly. And not until all things become known shall 
we learn how wonderfully the prayer of his early life, that God would give 
him "a hand to get and a heart to give," has been answered, and his motto 
since reaching mature manhood has been, "Let me do something good 
while I live that will live for good after I am dead." 

Mr. Kingsley's entire career has been characterized by unquestioned 
integrity, marked ability in organization and execution of business enter- 



The Worcester of i8g8. 673 

prises, and by a widespread Christian benevolence that has made him one 
of the great laymen of Massachusetts. 

He was married in 1846 to ^lary J. Todd of Brighton. The youngest of 
their seven children was C. Willard Kingsley, who was graduated from the 
Worcester Academy in 1S91, and died in Colorado Springs in 1S95. Mr. 
Kingsley's warm interest in the Worcester Academy may be attributed 
partly to the fart of his son's graduation from it. 

Matthew B. Lamb. Worcester owes her great success and wonderful 
development in manufacturioig and business industries very largely, if not 
entirely, to the home efforts of her own inhabitants. In this respect she 
differs materially from other cities, the business interests of which are 
controlled mostly by outside capitalists. It is by this home development 
she derives the qualities of industry, morality and progress that make her 
a model city, in which all her people take a just pride. Her manufacturers, 
bankers and business men have nearly all of them carved their way from 
the bench in the work-shop, the cashier's desk, or the store counter — self- 
made men, imbibing in their early lives qualities that fit them for intelligent 
and humane employers, willing to share the fruits of their opportunities 
with their fellow citizens, thereby establishing a contentment in their 
employees that is rarely found in those of most cities. 

Mr. Lamb, the subject of our sketch, is one of those self-made men. 
Coming to Worcester in 1S70, and not finding employment which his 
education called for, he entered the Rice, Barton & Fales Machine & Imn 
Works, and served his time as an apprentice at the trade of machinist. In 
1877, Mayor Charles B. Pratt appointed him to the police force, and in 1884 
ilayor Charles G. Reed named him sergeant and assigned him to vStation 2. 
A few months after this last appointment, he was offered a position as 
bookkeeper and manager by S. R. Leland & Son, the leading music dealers 
at this time, with whom he remained until 1893, when he established a 
business for himself in pianos, organs and musical merchandise, and became 
proprietor of the Worcester Musical Instrument Co., manufacturing and 
importing band and orchestra instruments and musical supplies of all kinds. 
He is considered one of the shrewdest buyers, a good salesman, and a 
financial manager of rare ability. He has built up one of the largest and 
most flourishing music businesses in New England, and this since 1893, 
during the most severe panic our city has experienced. He has established 
for himself a reputation for business ability and integrity which demands 
the respect of his fellow citizens. 

Mr. Lamb takes a deep interest in all public matters affecting the 
development of the city, and he has been tendered nominations for 
alderman, high sheriff, and has served two years as license commissioner 
under Mayor A. B. R. Sprague. He is an old-line Democrat, and is highly 
respected by men of both parties. 

^Ir. Lamb recently purchased the old Claflin estate on Oread street, 
where he enjoys the fruits of his labors in a comfortable home. His 
son, Fred J. Lamb, is associated with him in business in the Knowles 
building. 




WATThbv'. :-\. ^•■■.It 



The Worcester of 1898. 675 

Frank Edward Lancaster, the son of Jcihn and Mary L. Lancaster, was 
born at Acworth, X. H., on January 4th, 1S33. He was educated at the 
public schools, and afterwards entered and completed a course at the 
Gilmanton Academy, one of the leading institutions of that time. After 
his academic course, he early sought the work most congenial to his tastes, 
and secured a position with a large cotton manufacturing company at 
Manchester, X. H. 

In 1863 he accepted a tempting offer, and came to Worcester to engage in 
the manufacture of machinery as superintendent for Goddard, Seaverns&Co. 
In 1864 the Goddards retired and the business was continued, and John L. 
Seaverns and William Dickinson were associated with Mr. Lancaster in 
carrying it on, Xew designs and patterns were made, and many large and 
improved machines were built, which were ahead of anything then in 
existence for the manufacture of paper. One of the incidents of the 
business at this time was the designing and building of the machinery for 
making the silk fibre paper used by the Treasury Department for the demand 
notes, treasury notes and greenbacks used during the war. Also at this 
time a large and complete Fourdrinier paper-machine, with dryers, calenders 
and paper-engines, was built for the Currency Bureau and set up in the 
Treasury Department at Washington, and so urgent was the necessity of 
getting this machinery in operation that it was shipped by Adams Express, 
the weight being between thirty-five and forty tons. 

In 1870 the business was sold to John L. Seaverns, and removed to 
Xewburg, X. Y. The premises on Foster street were retained and fitted up, 
and Mr. Lancaster established there the Worcester Felting Co. William 
Dickinson and Henry H. Chamberlin were associated with him in this 
enterprise. In 1874 Mr. Chamberlin retired, and the remaining members 
of the company continued. Feltings of every description were manufactured, 
and the business was eminently successful, the product being half a million 
dollars a year. In 1884 Mr. Lancaster retired from this business, and soon 
after engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods at X^orth Oxford. In 
1892 Mr. Lancaster relinquished business, and after a much-needed rest 
became treasurer of the Globe Corset Company, which position he now 
holds. 

^Ir. Lancaster was a member of the Common Council from 1878 to 1882, 
and served on prominent committees, including the committee having in 
charge the building of the City Hospital, the removal of the Mechanic street 
burial-ground, and the opening of Foster street. 

Mr. Lancaster has been a trustee of the Worcester Five Cents Savings 
Bank since 1873, and vice-president since 1893; is a director and auditor of 
the Merchants & Farmers Fire Insurance Co. ; has been a trustee of the 
Worcester County Mechanics Association, a director of the Millbury National 
Bank, was an original member of the Worcester Continentals, and served 
on the staffs of Colonels Hopkins, Russell and Smith, and has been a member 
of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. Mr. Lancaster 
was an original member of the Brigade Club, which was an acknowledged 
power in the politics of Worcester city and county for many years. 




FRANK E. LANCASTER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



677 



John Edward Lancaster, the son of Frank E. and Susan C. Lancaster, was 
born in New York city December ist, 1863. Early in the following year 
the family removed to ^V"orcester. He was educated at the public grammar 
schools and at the Classical high school, and, after his course at the latter, 
entered immediately upon a business career. His tendencies early were 
toward manufacturing, and he held a position with J. H. & G. M. Walker 
in 1880 and 1881, when the firm was one of the largest boot manufacturers 
in the United States, and later a position with L. C. Chase & Co. of Boston, 
the largest plush manufacturers in the world. In 1888 he left the latter 
position to associate himself with his father, who then owned and operated 




RESIDENCE OF JOHN E. LANCASTER, 91 SALISBURY STREET. 



the cotton mills at North O.xford, Massachusetts. In January, 1892, he left 
the cotton business, and was elected secretary of the Worcester Corset 
Company, and on December 1st, 1893, relinquished this position and 
commenced business for himself, under the style of the " Globe- Cor.set 
Company," at 15 Union street. It was here that the training of the past 
ten years, the inherited manufacturing traits, and the native ability, were 
given full opportunity for the display of their powers, and under his guiding 
hand was built up from nothing the large business of the pre.sent day. 

In 1897, at the incorporation of the Globe Corset Company, he was elected 
l)resident and general manager, a position which he now holds. 

Mr. Lancaster early showed a great liking for the militia, and enlisted in 
Company C, Worcester Light Infantry, Second Regiment. Massachusetts 
Infantry, on June 13th, 1885 ; was elected second lieutenant June 18th, 1885, and 
resigned :May 7th, 18S7; second enlistment. May loth, 1887; appointed 




JOHN E. LANCASTER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



679 




regimental sergeant-major May 12th. 1.SS7, 
on staff of Colonel B. F. Bridges, Jr. ; ap- 
pointed first brigade provost sergeant on 
staff of General Bridges February 21st. 
1889; appointed adjutant of Second Regi- 
ment Infantry on staff of Colonel E. P. 
Clark April 5th, 1889; resigned May 12th. 
1896. Third enlistment in B Battery, 
First Battalion of Artillery. June 8th, 1S96, 
and honorably discharged at completion 
of term. 

Mr. Lancaster was married A]iril 6th, 
1892, to Agnes Fanning, daughter of David 
H. and Rosamond H. Fanning, and has 
three children. 

Andrew P. Lundborg was born in Afton, 
Washington county, Minnesota, Septem- AriuREv. p. lundbgru. 

ber 20, 1862. His parents were Swedish 

farmers, who emigrated to this country from their native land. He 
attended Gustavus Adolphus College at St. Peter, ^Minnesota, and Augustana 
College, Rock Island, Illinois, graduating from the latter institution in 1887. 
He came to Worcester in 1889, and opened a Swedish book-store in part of 
the store at 212 Main street, and occupied the entire store a year and a half 
later. In 1894 he moved his business to larger quarters at his present 
location, 221 Main street, and added a new line of goods, including watches, 
jewelry, etc. His establishment is the largest depository of Swedish books 
in the United States east of Chicago, and he maintains a wholesale as well 
as a retail trade of considerable proportions. 

Mr. Lundborg has from the first taken an influential position among the 
Swedish people of Worcester. He is a member of the Swedish Lutheran 
Church on Mulberry street; has been treasurer for seven years, and superin- 
tendent of the Sunday school for eight years. He was a member of the 
Common Council of the city of Worcester in 1896 and 1897, and declined 
a reelection, as his business demanded his entire attention. 

Albert Gerry Mann, son of Aaron and Eliza (Weld) ^lann, was born in 
Orford. New Hampshire, July 19, 1827. He is a descendant in the eighth 
generation from Richard ^lann, who came from England to Scituate, 
Massachusetts, previous to 1644, through Richard", Xathaniel', John', 
John\ Aaron", Aaron'. Albert G. ilann was brought up on the farm, and 
was also engaged during a portion of the year in lime-burning, which was 
carried on to some extent by his father. In this he learned the rudi- 
ments of the business in which he attained success in later life. His 
education was limited to what could be obtained in the district schools, 
but his training, particularly in arithmetic, was thorough so far as it went. 
At the age of eighteen he left home and went to Leicester, Massachusetts, 
and worked in that town, in Worcester, and in his native place during the 




ALBERT G. MANN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 681 

next few years. In 1847 he was employed about three months by David 
Woodward, the leading stone-cutter in Worcester, and at that time cut 
nearly all the window caps and sills for the Warren block on Pearl street. 

In 1851 Mr. Mann came to this city to reside permanently. In 1853 he 
engaged in business with David Damon in a stone-yard on School street. 
and continued in that connection about four years. In 1857 he purchased 
real estate on Southbridge street, and established the extensive stone 
business which he conducted for so many years. The yard he enlarged 
several times by buying adjoining estates. During the next twenty-five 
years he carried on the largest stone business in Worcester, employing at 
times eighty men, some of whom remained with him many years. In 1868 
he acquired the granite quarry at Marlborough, Xew Hampshire, and from 
this a large part of his material was drawn. He furnished the city with a 
great quantity of block paving, and all the stone in the rough for the ashlar 
work in the Union Station and that of Plymouth Church was supplied by 
him. In 1881 he furnished and put up the granite work in Jonas G. 
Clark's block opposite the City Hall, the largest and most substantial 
business block in Worcester at that time, and long will it remain an exam- 
ple of fine workmanship. Much of Mr. Mann's business was cemetery 
work, tombs, curbing for lots, monuments, etc., and its execution was 
characterized by thoroughness and durability. Many examples of his 
workmanship in years past are to be found to-day in all parts of the city, 
and are noticeable in contrast to those of more recent construction, which 
they have outlasted. JNIr. Mann was the first stone-worker to harden the 
heads of tools used in cutting; he also improved the construction of derricks, 
and made other valuable changes in methods. 

In 1876, in consequence of the threatened withdrawal of railroad facili- 
ties, Mr. Mann removed his stone-yard to Crescent street, and in 1885 
disposed of his entire interest, including the New Hampshire quarry, to 
George D. Webb, who continues the business. In recent years Mr. ^Mann's 
services have several times been rendered in the oversight of large under- 
takings, in which his long experience, sound judgment and perfect 
trustworthiness have been of inestimable value. He served on the Building 
Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association, and on that of 
Central Church. He is a member of the Worcester County Mechanics 
Association and The Worcester Society of Antiquity. Of kindly disposi- 
tion his manner carries with it that old-fashioned politeness which has now 
become so rare. Mr. Mann resides in a fine house on Harvard street, at 
the head of George street. This house he has greatly improved, and it is 
probably the only building in the city which has the floor of the cellar 
formed of stone slabs set in cement. 

Mr. Mann attributes his success in business largely to placing the material 
in all his work where it would be in harmony with the natural laws of 
construction for solidity and durability, not forgetting proportions, good 
taste and fine workmanship. 

Edwin Tyler Marble, son of Royal Tyler and Ann B. (Clement) Marble, 
was born in Sutton. Ma--achusetts, August iS. 1S27. He received such 




EDWIN T. MARBLE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 685 

education as the district schools afforded, and also attended several terms 
at the Worcester County Manual Training School, the name under which 
the Worcester Academy was known in its early days. In 1841 he came to 
Worcester with his father's family, and at the age of eighteen entered the 
shop of Albert Curtis and served a three years' apprenticeship as a machinist. 
After this he worked in various shops in Worcester as journeyman, foreman, 
and superintendent, notably as foreman for some time Avith Thayer, 
Houghton & Co., manufacturers of machinists' tools, and later as superin- 
tendent for E. C. Cleveland & Co., in the manufacture of woolen machinery. 
In 1863 he formed a partnership with Albert Curtis, which connection was 
maintained until 1895, when Mr. Curtis retired, and the Curtis & Marble 
Machine Co. was incorporated with ^Ir. Marble as president and treasurer. 

Mr. Marble has closely devoted himself to his business, and in addition 
has served his fellow citizens in various public capacities. He was a member 
of the School Board in i860, and from 1872 to 1880; a member of the 
Common Council in i866-'68, and of the Board of Aldermen from i869-'72. 
In 1870 he was a representative to the General Court, and served in the 
State Senate in i887-'88. He has also acted as a director of the Free Public 
Library. 

He has been an influential member oi the Worcester County ^lechanics 
Association, and was its president in 1877 and 1878. He is a director of the 
Worcester Safe Deposit & Trust Company, a vice-president of the People's 
Savings Bank, and is connected with other organizations. In religion he is 
a Congregationalist, and has been a member of Piedmont Church from its 
early history. In politics he is a Republican. 

In 1850 Mr. Marble married Harriet H. Chase of Shelburne Falls, who 
had been a teacher in the Worcester public schools. She died in 1892, 
leaving four sons and one daughter. In 1890 Mr. Marble built a fine 
residence at the corner of ^Main and Clement streets, where he now resides. 

Henry Alexander Marsh,* president of the Central National Bank, was 
born in Southborough, Massachusetts, September 7, 1836. In 1849 he removed 
with his parents to Worcester, where he continued his education in the 
public schools, and was also for some time under the private instruction of 
the Reverend Edward Everett Hale. In 1853 he became a clerk in the Central 
Bank, and through successive promotions attained the cashiership, which 
office he held nearly thirty years, being chosen president of the bank in 1892. 

Mr. Marsh has, by reason of his peculiar fitness, been prominently 
identified with Worcester and other financial interests. He has been a 
trustee-at-large of the City Hospital since 1889. He was for thirteen years 
a commissioner of the city sinking funds, and a commissioner of the Jaques 
fund and other funds of the City Hospital for five years. He was one of a 
committee to examine the accounts- of the treasurer of Harvard College in 
i875-'77, and is a vice-president of the People's Savings Bank. He was for 
several years chairman of the Worcester Clearing House Association. He 
has served as treasurer of several public relief funds, and as executor of 

* See portrait on page 70. 



684 The Worcester of 1898. 

many large estates. Mr. Marsh was si.\ years a director of the Free Public 
Library, and is a member of the American Antiquarian Society, the St. 
Wulstan Society, and other literary and social bodies. He was a member 
of the Common Council in i867-'68, and of the Board of Aldermen in 1878, 
'79, '80, '81, being president the last named year. He was mayor of 
Worcester in 1893, '94, '95. In his second election to the office of mayor he 
received 12,420 votes, there being no other candidate. He has always been 
a Republican in politics. He was married in 1864 to Emily W. Mason, and 
has two daughters. 

George McAleer, M. D.,* was born November 20, 1845, at Bedford, Lower 
Canada, now province of Quebec, on the farm on which his father and 
mother located in 1834 when they arrived from the County Tyrone, Ireland. 
Naturally apt at learning, he finished the course of the district schools at an 
early age, and was sent to the Stanbridge Academy, an institution of much 
more than local repute, where he studied the classics and higher mathematics, 
and graduated in 1863. 

He then took the government e.xamination for a school teacher, and 
received a diploma of the first class, and taught school during the following 
school year. Never an admirer of royalty nor of the British government, he 
came to Worcester in 1865 and obtained employment as bookkeeper, and 
began the study of medicine. 

Being of an inventive turn of mind, he invented a number of folding- 
chairs, which were much superior to any then on the market, and for whiih 
several letters-patent were granted to him. 

In 1866 he entered upon his medical course in Philadelphia, where he 
graduated in 1869. Meanwhile folding-chairs made under his patents became 
so popular that they led all others in the markets of this and many foreign 
countries. This led to infringements and extensive and expensive litigation 
which continued in the courts six years, and so occupied his time that he 
was unable to engage in the practice of medicine. 

Such spare time as he could command he devoted to keeping the books 
and aiding in the harness and saddlery business carried on by his brother, 
Reynolds McAleer. In his patent litigation he was entirely successful, and 
the business of his brother having been expanded to profitable proportions, he 
formed a partnership with him under the style of R. McAleer & Co.. which 
has been successfully continued ever since. 

He was active in the organization of the Bay State Savings Bank in 1895, 
and was elected its first treasurer, which office he now holds. 

Doctor McAleer is a man of versatile tastes and talents, a great lover of 
nature, and a sportsman of wide renown. He is equally familiar with the 
canvas-back of Virginia and the moose of northern Maine. There is no 
better living authority to-day on the practical use of the rifle, rod and shot- 
gun. In his extended explorations of famous hunting and wild regions his 
camera always accompanies him, audit has furnished many valued souvenirs 
of his journeyings to his less-fa xnred frientls. He is as ready with his pen as 

* See portrait on page 379. 



THE Worcester of 1898. 685 

with his gun and fly-rod, has the facult)' of keen observation, vigorous 
and fascinating expression, and is an esteemed contributor to leading 
sportsmen's and other publications. 

He is a Roman Catholic in religion, and a prominent member of St. Paul's 
Church. In politics he is a Democrat of the old school type, and naturally, 
therefore, he is not in sympathy with the modern doctrines and methods so 
industriously sought to be engrafted upon his party. Not desiring to hold 
public office, he settled in an overwhelming Republican ward more than 
twenty years ago. 

He married, June 2, 1S74. Helen Frances Kendall, a native of (iroton, 
^[assachusetts, but a resident of Worcester since childhood. 

Reverend Archibald McCullagh, D. D.,* pastor of Plymouth Church in 
Worcester, is a graduate of Princeton University, class of '68. He took 
the full three years' course in Princeton Theological Seminary. At 
the close of his second year in the seminary, in the spring of 1S70, 
he was licensed by the Presbytery of New York city to preach the 
gospel, and immediately after he supplied the pulpit of Reverend Wil- 
liam Blackwood, D. D., one of the most prominent and scholarly pastors 
in Philadelphia, during the three months' absence of that gentleman 
in Europe; and within a short time he received an invitation to become 
his colleague, which was declined. Before his graduation he received 
simultaneously unanimous calls from two churches in Philadelphia and from 
the Second Presbyterian Church of Germantown. The one from the last 
named he accepted, and he was installed its pastor in May, 1871. Seven 
years, unmarred by a single jar, were spent with this people. In 1877 he 
was given a unanimous call from the Ross Street Presbyterian Church of 
Brooklyn, New York, which, several times renewed after repeated declinations, 
was finally accepted, and Doctor McCullagh entered upon his work there April 
25, 1878, and labored with great success until 1890. During his pastorate 
of twelve years, over $200,000 was raised and contributed by his people to 
various causes, including the payment of a debt of $50,000; and within 
the same period 550 names were added to the roll of church member- 
ship. 

On the 30th day of July, 1S90, Plymouth Church in Worcester extended 
a unanimous call to Doctor McCullagh to become its pastor. His compliance 
involved leaving a people to whom he was strongly attached, leaving a city 
with whose interests he had become identified, and withdrawing from a 
great historic church in which he was born; but believing that the voice of 
duty called him, he accepted and came to this city. Here he has taken and 
maintained a foremost position among the Christian workers of the place, 
and his influence among his brethren of the ministry, as with his people 
and the Christian community, is powerful and far-reaching. 

In a large city a minister must be more than preacher. It is expected that 
he will be adequate for any emergency. He must be a financier, organizer, 
society man; understand how to build a church, raise the debt, be a church 



' See portrait on page 2S8. 




HENRY H. MERRIAM. 



The Worcester of 1898. 687 

lawyer; in fine, an ecclesiastical factotum. In all these lines Doctor 
^IcCullagh has proved equal to the demand. 

As a pastor Doctor McCullagh visits all his people once a year, and in 
special cases as often as necessary. He is spoken of as tender, sympathetic, 
genial, and having rare tact in dealing with delicate cases of spiritual 
distress, as unselfish, and ready to go anytime and anywhere to help 
the afflicted. 

As an organizer he not only can map out work, hut is successful in getting 
others to undertake it, and carry it to completion. 

As a scholar Doctor McCullagh ranks high. He economizes labor and 
time by preaching sermons which grow out of an extended course of 
reading. Out of this study he gathers materials for txioks, and has become 
favorably known as an author. 

The degree of Doctor of Divinity, conferred on him by the University of 
the City of New York, is a well-deserved honor to a hard worker, earnest 
and whole-souled Christian man. 

Henry Harrison Merriam was born in Randolph, Ohio, March i, 1841. 
His father was a native of Grafton, Massachusetts, and a descendant of 
the Merriams who were among the founders of that town. When Henry 
was only four years old his parents moved back to New England, and 
after living two years in Shrewsbury settled in the old home town of 
Grafton. 

Here the subject of this sketch received his early education, and, after 
going through the high school, took an academic course at the Wilbraham 
Academy, fitting for college. He entered Amherst College in the class of 
1866, but left before completing the course, and worked upon his father's 
farm at Grafton. He taught district school several winters at Grafton, and 
at Shrewsbury, Mass. He enlisted in Forty-Second Regiment, Massachusetts 
^'olunteer Militia, July, 1864, and was mustered out November, 1864. In 
April, 1866, he entered the employ of L. J. Knowles & Brother, who were 
then manufacturing looms at Warren, Massachusetts. In the fall of the 
same year the Messrs. Knowles removed their works to Worcester, and Mr. 
Merriam came with them and entered the office as bookkeeper. 

In 1885, when the Knowles Loom Works were incorporated, he was elected 
secretary of the company, and two years ago, when the Crompton and 
Knowles companies were consolidated, he was chosen to the same office in 
the new corporation, which position he now occupies. 

Mr. Merriam is the senior deacon in the Old South Church, having been 
elected to that office in 1869. When the city bought the society rights on 
the Common in 1886, he was chairman of the Board of Assessors of the 
parish. For several years he was superintendent of the Sunday school, and 
is now teacher of a large young men's Bible class. He is one of the 
foremost workers in this aggressive and very successful society'. Deacon 
Merriam has been connected with the Young Men's Christian Association 
of this city since 1867, and was for a long time a director and one of the 
presidents of the society. At the time the fine new building on Elm street 
was erected, he was the treasurer of the Board of Trustees, and had the 



688 



THE WORCESTER OF 1898. 



handling' of all the funds. He is still one of the Board of Trustees and 
its secretary and treasurer. 

- Mr. Merriam is an ardent, conscientious Republican, but has never 
accepted public office, although matiy times urged to do so. He was 
married in 186310 Miss Marielle E. Harlow of Shrewsbury. Their residence 
is at No. 22 King street. They have two sons, Wilton H., a graduate 
of the Polytechnic Institute of this city, and Arthur H., who was graduated 
from Amherst College, class of 1897, and is now engaged in business at 
Springfield, Mass. 

Reverend Eldridge Mix, D. D., superintendent of the Worcester City 
Missionary Society, was born in Atwater, Ohio, January 15, 1833. Atwater 
is a town on the western reserve which was settled by people from Walling- 
ford, Connecticut, and the place was named after Deacon Atwater, who 

was the leading man in the settlement. 
Doctor JNIix's ancestors on his father's 
side went from Wallingford, and his 
mother was a descendant of the Talcott 
family that settled in Hartford county. 

His early education was received in the 
public schools and at the academy of his 
native town. He prepared for college 
with Reverend E. C. Sharp, his pastor, 
and in 1850 entered the Western Reserve 
University, then located at Hudson. After 
spending two years at this institution, he 
went to Williams College, where he was 
graduated in 1S54. 

During the following year he was prin- 
cipal of the academy at Windham, Ohio, 
and for two years after taught in a school 
at Wilton, Connecticut. He then took a 
course of study in preparation for the 
niinistrv at Union Theological Seminary of New York and at Andover 
Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in i860. 

Doctor Mix was first called to be assistant pastor of the West Presbyterian 
Church, New York city. His pastorates have been six years at the First 
Congregational Church, Burlington, Vermont; fourteen years at First 
Presbyterian Church, Orange, New Jersey, and eight years at Central 
Congregational Church, Fall River. After leaving Fall River he served 
the Congregational Church at Wellesley, Massachusetts, as acting pastor 
for a year and a half. 

In 1878 Princeton College conferred upon Doctor ^lix the degree of Doctor 
of Divinity. While living in Orange, New Jersey, Doctor Mix was on the 
Board of Examination of teachers for the public schools; was a member of 
the State Commission on the deaf, blind, and other unfortunates, and for 
several years served on the Board of Church Erection under appointment 
of the (ieneral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. 




REVEREND ELDRIDGE MIX. 



The Worcester of 1898. 689 

Doctor Mix located in Worcester in the autumn of 1892, where he has since 
resided. For nearly a year he supplied the pulpit of the First Congrega- 
tional Church, Spencer, and later preached for the Congregational Church 
in Westborough. He also supplied for several months the Pilgrim Church 
in St. Louis, Missouri; the North Church, St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and 
the Second Presbyterian Church, Cleveland, Ohio. He has always been an 
active worker, and nearly every Sunday finds him preaching in the pulpit 
at the present time. He is now supplying the Belmont Street Church of 
this city. 

For nearly four years past he has been in charge of the City ^lissionary 
Society's work, and has filled the position with marked ability and ac- 
ceptance. 

Philip Louis Moen,* for many years so prominently connected with the 
Washburn & Moen [Manufacturing Company, was born in Wilna, New York, 
November 13, 1824. He entered into business in New York city in a 
hardware store, in which wire made by Ichabod Washburn was sold, and he 
became acquainted with Mr. Washburn and his family, married his daughter, 
and came to Worcester to live. He engaged in business with his father-in- 
law, and the conduct of the rapidly increasing wire manufactory in its 
financial management largely fell into his hands, Mr. Washburn being 
devoted more especially to the mechanical part of the business. The 
building up of this immense industry on a solid foundation, its steady 
progress to the present proportions, and its almost unparalleled success, are 
in no small measure to be credited to the clear foresight and business ability 
of Mr. Moen. He was for many years previous to his death, which took 
place April 23, 1891, president of the corporation. 

Closely devoted to his charge, he found little time to give to public duties. 
He was a presidential elector in 1885 ; and was a trustee and treasurer of the 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute several years. He was a prominent member 
of Union Church, and a man of great force in the community. He was 
twice married, his second wife being [Maria S. Grant, who, with three 
children, survived him. 

Charles Hill Morgan, president of the Morgan Construction Company, 
manufacturers oi rolling-mill and wire-drawing machinery, and the Morgan 
Spring Company, makers of fine steel springs, is an eminent mechanical 
engineer. He has been prominent in the development of the wire industry 
and processes for rolling steel into the various commercial shapes, and is 
still active along these lines. 

Almost without an exception the larger steel and wire mills of this country 
have in their works machinery invented or designed by him. 

He is a direct descendant of Miles Morgan, a native of Wales, who came 
to this country in 1836. His mother was a daughter of Doctor Noah Rich, 
and a woman of superior ability and force of character. 

Mr. Morgan was born in Rochester, New York, January 8, 1831, but his 
parents soon after moved to Massachusetts and settled in Clinton. His 



*See portrait on page 45S. 




CHARLES H. MORGAN. 



The Worcester of 1S98. 691 

early education was received in the common schools of that day and at the 
Lancaster Academy. 

At the age of fifteen he began to learn his trade in the machine-shop of 
his uncle, and soon developed a love for mechanical drawing. In 1852, 
when twenty-one years of age, he was put in charge of the Clinton Mills 
dye-house. Here he devoted himself to the study of chemistry, and was 
able to fill his new position with entire satisfaction and at the same time 
gain valuable experience in the management of men. For a time Mr. Morgan 
was draughtsman for the Lawrence Machine Company and for Erastus B. 
Bigelow. While with the Lawrence Machine Company he was sent to 
Worcester to look after the now famous Merrifield engine on LTnion street, 
which was built by that company and was at that time being erected. 

In i860 he ji lined his brother in a manufacturing enterprise in Philadel- 
phia, but remained there only a short time. Returning to Worcester in 
1864, he became the general superintendent of the Washburn & Moen Wire 
Works, a position he held for over twenty-three years, and was one of the 
directors of that company for over eleven years. While with the Washburn 
& Moen Manufacturing Company, Mr. Morgan designed the first direct 
hydraulic elevator introduced into New England. 

Not only has he borne a leading part in the wire industry of America. 
but as a trustee of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute his inventive genius 
and business ability have been applied in making the machine-shop con- 
nected with that institution a place for thorough instruction and practice 
of mechanical engineers. 

Among the engineering societies with which he is identified are the 
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Institute of Mining 
Engineers, and British Iron and Steel Institute. 

In 1852 Mr. Morgan was married to Miss Harriet T. Plympton of 
Shrewsbury, and two children were born to them, one dying in infancy. 
C. Henry Morgan is the other child by this marriage. He resides in 
Worcester, and is employed by the Morgan Construction Company. 

While living in Philadelphia Mrs. Morgan died, and in 1863 he was 
married to Miss Rebecca Beagary of that city. They have four children: 
Harriet, wife of Doctor W. D. Mitchell of East Orange, New Jersey; Char- 
lotte, wife of Frederick M. McFadden, a lawyer of Philadelphia, Pennsyl- 
vania; Paul B., secretary of the Morgan Construction Company; and Ralph 
L., mechanical engineer with the same company. 

^Ir. Morgan is an earnest Christian gentleman, one of the founders of 
Plymouth Church and a director of the Young Men's Christian Association. 
Mrs. Morgan is also interested in Christian work, being president of the 
Yiiung Women's Christian Association (if Worcester. 

Alexander Cole Munroe, son of Charles and ^lary (Cole) ^Munroe, was born 
in !Millbury, Massachusetts, August 22, 1831, but removed with his parents 
soon afterward to Worcester, where he attended the public schools until 1846, 
removing that year to Lowell. 

In 1850 he accepted a clerkship in the Lowell post office, where he continued 
for three years, having charge of the mailing department. In 1853 he 




ALEXANDER C. MUNROE. 



The Worcester of il 



693 



accepted a position in the freight department of the Boston & Lowell Railroad 
at Lowell, spending six years in the freight and ticket departments of that 
road, and holding the position of superintendent of transportation for a 
lime at Lowell. 

In July, 1859, Mr. IMunroe accepted the position of station agent of the 
Providence & Worcester Railroad at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where he 
remained until his appointment in April, 1861, as general agent of the 
Providence & Worcester Railroad and Providence & New York Steamship 




RESIDENCE OF ALEXANDER C. MUNROE, 30 HOLLYWOOD STREET. 



Company, with headquarters at Worcester, where he removed in 1861, and has 
since resided. Mr. Munroe continued in charge of the business of the 
corporations named, including all freight by the "Neptune Line," from 
Worcester and points North and East to New York, the South and West, 
amounting irj through billing to more than $200,000 annually for a period of 
more than twelve years. 

Having purchased in February, 1873, the insurance agency of the late 
General George A. Washburn, Mr. Munroe took up with alacrity that line 
of work, retaining, however, the management of the transportation business 
at the request of the railroad and steamship companies named until October 
I, 1873, when, finding the double duties onerous, he tendered his resignation 
as general agent on account of the labor required to carry on satisfactorily 
to himself both kinds of business. 



694 The Worcester of 1898. 

Mr. Munroe is now the duly authorized agent and attorney for central 
Massachusetts for eighteen of the largest fire insurance companies of England 
and the United States. During his twenty-five years as an insurance agent, 
he has earned for his companies more than $300,000 above all losses and 
expenses, and his office stands to-day among the leading insurance agencies 
of the state. 

Mr. Munroe, from his youth a lover of music, was one of the band (jf 
earnest musical pioneers who in 1S63 organized the Worcester Count\- 
Musical Association, and it was during his official connection with the 
Worcester Music Festivals that they advanced from small beginnings to a 
prominence which challenged comparison with the great English festivals, 
calling out enthusiastic praise and admiration from the country at large, and 
warm commendation from European sources. Mr. Munroe was a member 
of the High Street Quartette Choir, Lowell, in ICS58; a member of the quartette 
choir of the Baptist Church, Woonsocket, R. I., in 1859 and i860. He was 
four years a member of the quartette choir of the Union Church, Worcester, 
and twenty-three years a member of the quartette choir of the Old South 
Church, Worcester, of which choir he was for twenty-two years bass and 
director. 

He was for a time chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Worcester 
Mozart Society, treasurer of the Worcester Beethoven Society, treasurer and 
afterwards president of the Worcester Mozart and Beethoven Choral Union, 
and for thirty-three years connected with the Worcester County Musical 
Association — twenty-three years as secretary, eight years as vice-president, 
and two years as president, resigning the latter position January 20th, 1896. 

He has never had any political aspirations; is a member of the Board of 
Trade; the Worcester Mechanics Association ; the Board of Underwriters, of 
which body he has been for two years president; the Old South Church; the 
Congregational Club, of which he was for a time treasurer; and is an 
honorary member of the Worcester Continentals. He has been a member 
of the Commonwealth Club and The Society of Antiquity. Since his retire- 
ment from active choir membership, he has been for four years chairman of 
the Music Committee of the Old South Church, but has now retired from 
the active management of musical organizations, although still loving music 
and singing occasionally in various societies. 

Mrs. Munroe was for twenty-one years a member of the same choirs with 
her husband, and beginning her church choir work at fourteen years of age 
as leading contralto of a large choir, she continued to sustain positions in 
church quartette choirs for thirty-two years, twelve years as soprano and 
twenty years as contralto, her voice, of more than three octaves in range, 
enabling her to sing either part. For twelve years she was the principal 
contralto soloist of the Worcester and other music festivals. 

Mrs. Munroe is now and has for five years been president and a singing" 
member of the Worcester Ladies' Home Music Club, which, organized through 
her efforts, has proved a source of much pleasure to the members and their 
friends; she is now and for five years has been president of the Women's 
Auxiliary to the Worcester Young Men's Christian Association. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



695 




JOHN P. MUNROE. 



John P. Munroe, son of John and Mary 
(Epps) Munroe, was born in Concord, New 
Hampshire, June 28, 1850. His father, a 
native of Rutland, Massachusetts, be- 
longed to that branch of the Munroe 
family which had settled in Lexington 
previous to the War of the Revolution. 
The subject of this sketch was educated 
in the public schools of Concord, grad- 
uating from the high school in 1865. 
From 1865 to 1872 he was a telegraph 
operator, and in April, 1869, at the age of 
eighteen, came to Worcester to take news 
dispatches of the Associated Press for 
the Daily Spy. March i, 1872, he entered 
the employ of the Spy as city editor, and 
remained in that capacity and as night 
editor until July i, 1898. For many years 

he has been the Worcester correspondent of the Boston Herald. Air. 
Munroe retired from the Spy staff to become the general agent for 
Worcester county of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United 
States, with an office at 713 State Mutual building. 

Mr. Munroe is prominently connected with Masonic and other fraternal 
bodies; is a member of Quinsigamond Lodge, Eureka Chapter, Hiram 
Council, and Worcester County Commandery, Knights Templars; also of the 
Scottish Rite bodies, including the Massachusetts Consistory, of Aleppo 
Temple, Mystic Shrine; the Worcester Lodge of Odd Fellows, Worcester 
Lodge of Elks, Wapiti Club, and Gesang Verein Frohsinn. In Septem- 
ber, 1898, he was unanimously nominated by the Republicans of Ward 2 to 
represent them in the Legislature of 1899, and was elected without opposition 
November 8. 

Mr. Munroe was married September 19, 1874, and has five children. One 
of his sons, John E., is a cadet in the United States Military Academy at 
West Point, by appointment of Congressman Walker, as a result of 
competitive examination, and a daughter, Lucy A., is a member of the 
junior class at Smith College. 

James Atkinson Norcross. There is nothing to be told of an ancient 
name or of an ancestrally acquired fortune in this story of a plain man's 
life. Jesse Springer Norcross, the father of the two men who made the 
great building firm of Norcross Brothers, was simply one of those hardy 
pioneers who were doing the rough hewing of American civilization in the 
primeval forest early in this century. This eldest Norcross, after whom 
the little town amid the woods was named, had his own quite wonderful 
constructive ability. There was nothing called for in that peaceful conquest 
of the wilderness, from the construction of a saw-mill in its every detail to 
the making of a violin or pair of shoes, at which he did not show himself an 




JAMES A. NORCROSS. 



700 The Worcester of 1898. 

expert. James, his eldest son, born in Winslow, Maine, in 1831, was 3'et a 
boy when his father died, one of those many adventurous men who perished 
in the rush to CaHfornia in '49 and '50. 

Upon the backwoods lad fell the support of the widowed mother and the 
little host of children, and in his own simple, straightforward fashion he 
accepted the duty and fulfilled it. From that day until she died in her son's 
house in Worcester, in 1883, he never let her want for anything he had to 
share with her. 

Marrying in early manhood Miss Mary Ellen Pinkham, he never hesitates 
to assert that the best thing life has brought to him is the wife that has 
borne him company through all the vicissitudes of nearly fifty years. For 
some years after his marriage he remained in Salem, where as a carpenter 
and builder he had been the mainstay of his mother. Here several of their 
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Norcross, and here, in 1864, he and his 
brother Orlando, eight years his junior, formed the partnership of Norcross 
Brothers, and began business in the little town of Swampscott. As early as 
1866 they were undertaking contracts in Worcester county, and were 
securing a name and laying the foundation of their extensive business. 
During these earlier years, in which James, as the elder and more experienced 
of the two brothers, naturally took the lead, it is noteworthy that the 
reputation of the firm for absolutely honest work, the very best that skill 
and fidelity could insure, was thoroughly established. In the city of 
Worcester to begin with, and afterward extending over the whole country, 
the monuments to their faithful workmanship and courageous enterprise 
have multiplied till in themselves they would suffice to the making of a 
stately city. 

In 1897 James retired from the firm to enjoy the leisure which so inany of 
America's men of affairs have planned, and so few have been wise enough 
to take in time. Building for himself and family and always welcome friends 
the noble mansion crowning his beautiful estate of "Fairlawn," among 
the hills on the western edge of Worcester, Mr. Norcross is finding scope 
for all his old-time energy in a multitude of public and private enterprises. 
Those-who know the things of his life that he is most disposed to hide, tell 
us of an active and constant benevolence for which many and many a life 
is happier and better, and the cause of religion and temperance and 
education is very much the better off. Mr. and Mrs. Norcross are of 
lifelong Unitarian faith and practice. They are -consistent and active 
members of the South Unitarian Church of Worcester ; to the erection of 
its handsome and substantial edifice they were generous contributors, 
Norcross Brothers being the builders. 

Orlando Whitney Norcross, son of Jesse S. and Margaret (Whitney) Nor- 
cross, was born in Clinton, Maine, October 25, 1839. His father, a 
native of Wayne, Maine, was a mechanic of exceptional ability, who for 
many years constructed saw-mills in the lumber districts of the Pine Tree 
State. He removed late in life to vSalem, Massachusetts, and going to 
California at the time of the gold excitement died at Benicia, that State, in 
1850. The mother was a native of Westborough, Massachusetts. 



The Worcester of 1898. 701 

The subject of this sketch received his education in the Salem public 
schools, and was at first employed in the leather business, and afterwards 
learned the carpenters' trade. In 1S61 he enlisted in the Fourteenth 
Massachusetts Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, afterwards the First ^Massa- 
chusetts Heavy Artillery, and served three years. In 1864 he, in company 
with his brother, James A., engaged in the building business, under the 
firm name of Norcross Brothers, since so widely known and justly celebrated 
in connection with the erection of so many notable and costly buildings 
throughout the United States. The first contract of more than ordinary 
consequence was for the construction of the Congregational Church in 
Leicester, and soon after they erected another in North Adams. Locating 
in Worcester, their business increased until it assumed large proportions, 
beginning with the building here of Crompton block, the First Universalist 
Church and the Classical and English High School during the years 
i868-'7o, and ending, so far as the record of the city's first half century is 
concerned, with the building during the last three years of the State 
Mutual Life Assurance building, the Art Museum and the new City Hall. 
Other notable specimens of their workmanship in Worcester are the beauti- 
ful All Saints' Church and the Burnside building. In the meantime they 
erected in different parts of the country no. less than between seventy and 
eighty buildings, all remarkable for their size and costliness, as partly 
comprised in the following list : 

South Congregational Church, Springfield, Massachusetts, and in 1872 
the Hampden County Court House. In 1873 Trinity Church in Boston, 
the late Mr. Richardson's architectural masterpiece, was built. Subse- 
quently they executed other notable work of Richardson's design. In the 
six years i873-'79 they constructed the Norwich Congregational Church at 
Norwich, Connecticut; the Cheney Block, Hartford, Connecticut; the 
Latin and English High Schools, Boston; the Gymnasium and Sever Hall, 
Harvard College; the Ames Library and Town Hall, North Easton, 
Massachusetts; the Woburn Library, Woburn, Massachusetts; Trinity 
Church parsonage, Boston; and the Newport villa of Mrs. Annie W. Sher- 
man. During the eighties they extended their operations over the country, 
building the City Hall at Albany, New York; the Allegheny County Court 
House and Jail, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Chamber of Commerce, Cincin- 
nati; Howard Memorial Library, New Orleans; Turner and Lionberger 
Buildings, St. Louis, Missouri; Marshall Field Building, Chicago, Illinois; 
New York Life Insurance Buildings at Omaha and Kansas City; Presby- 
terian Church, Albany, New York; Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, 
New Jersey; and the Crouse Memorial College, Syracuse, New York. 
Within the same period they built the Yale Memorial Building; Harvard 
College Law School Building; Vermont University Building; the Durfee 
High School, Fall River; Crane Memorial Hall, Quincy; Maiden Library, 
Maiden; Fiske Building; Syndicate Building, and other business structures; 
also the First Spiritual Temple, and the Algonquin and Art Clubs, Boston; 
the South Framingham and Springfield stations on the Boston & Albany 
Railroad, and the Union Railroad Station at Hartford; Baptist Church at 




ORLANDO W. NORGROSS. 



The Worcester of 1898. 703 

Newton, and Grace Church, New Bedford ; also in New York city the 
Union League Club, Union Theological Seminary, and vSt. James' Episcopal 
and Holy Trinity Churches; and numerous pretentious and costly private 
residences in various cities throughout the country. They also constructed 
the Soldiers' Monument at West Point, New York, the largest polished 
monolith in the world, and the Ames Memorial Monument at Sherman, 
Wyoming, on the highest elevation of the Rocky Mountains crossed by the 
Union Pacific railroad. Their later work includes the Ames Building, 
Chamber of Commerce, Tremont Building, Youth's Companion Building, 
Devonshire Building, State House Extension, Exchange Building, Boston ; 
Industrial Building, Telephone Building and Banigan Building, Provi- 
dence; also the Rhode Island State House; Dormitory Building and 
Commencement Hall, Princeton College; Perkins Hall, Conant Hall and 
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard College; Society for Savings Building, Hart- 
ford, Connecticut; College for Teachers, New York; residence of the late 
Colonel Elliot F. Shepard, Scarborough, New York; Bloomingdale Asylum, 
White Plains, New York; Library, Physics and Natural Sciences Build- 
ings, Columbia College, New York; Equitable Building, Baltimore; 
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; New England Building, Cleveland, 
Ohio ; Chemical and Physical Laboratory, Amherst College. 

The facilities at command, which are both numerous and varied, include 
besides extensive wood and iron working shops in Worcester, stone-yards 
in Boston and Cleveland, Ohio, and granite, sandstone, slate and marble 
quarries in different states. On January i, 1897, Orlando W. Norcross 
purchased his brother's interest in the business, and the present operations, 
which include the new Union Station, Boston, are being completed by him. 

In May, 1870, Mr. Norcross married Miss Ellen P. Sibley of Salem, 
Massachusetts. Of his five children three are living, namely: Alice Whit- 
ney, Mabel Ellen and Edith Janet. 

In 1875 he served upon the committee of experts appointed to examine 
the condition of the Federal building in Chicago, and the report of that 
body was afterwards justified. He takes an active interest in local public 
affairs, and is an earnest advocate of temperance. Prior to the Rebellion 
he belonged to the Salem Cadets. 

William Joseph Ham Nourse was born in Canada April 24, 1S64. His 
grandfather, William Nourse, came a boy from Scotland in the early part of 
the present century in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, married 
a Miss Corrigill, whose mother was a descendant of one of the great Indian 
chiefs, and became in course of time chief factor of the company. His son 
Charles, father of the subject of this sketch, born at Sault Ste. Marie, was 
also employed by the Hudson's Bay Company. He married Elizabeth J. 
Ham, who was descended from an English family of distinction. 

William J. H. Nourse received his early education in the common schools 
of- Canada, and at a private school in Memphis, Tennessee, the family passing 
the winters in the South, his father owning a cotton plantation at Como. 
Mississippi. He was graduated at Whitby Cnllegiate Institute, which 
maintained a military training department, and in which he was one of the 




JOHN C. OTIS. 



The Worcester of i^ 



705 




WILLIAM J, H. NOURSE. 



most efficient students. During this period 
he was a member of the Thirty-fourth 
Battalion, and later of the Winnipeg 
Field Battery. He early manifested a 
strong interest in outdoor sports and 
athletics, and became an expert swimmer 
and boatman. In 1884, impelled by his 
natural love of adventure, he responded 
to the call of Lord Wolseley, whose ex- 
perience with Canadian voyageurs during 
Reil's Rebellion had given him a knowl- 
edge of their prowess, and who desired 
to enlist a force of competent boatmen 
to overcome the difficulties of the Nile in 
his contemplated effort to relieve General 
Gordon at Khartoum, and joined that 
famous expedition, being absent from his 
home for nearly three years. For his gal- 
lantry in rescuing several companions from imminent peril in the waters 
of the Nile, he was decorated by Her Majesty Queen Victoria and the 
khedive of Egypt. After many hardships and much rough service, he 
arrived home in 1886. 

After an engagement of a few months' duration with H. D. Gary, safe 
manufacturer at Buffalo, New York, Mr. Nourse entered the employ of M. C. 
Hood & Company, dealers in proprietary articles, Boston, remaining with that 
concern six years. He then became connected with Bradstreet's Mercantile 
Agency as a reporter for the Boston office, his territory including for 
three years the Worcester district. Bradstreet's Agency established an 
office in Worcester April i, 1897, and he was placed in charge as superin- 
tendent, in which capacity he remains at the present time. 

Mr. Nourse has written considerably for newspapers and magazines in 
narration of his remarkable adventures, and has lectured more or less before 
societies and clubs. He possesses many valued souvenirs of his travels and 
experiences, and his close observation, clear memory and graphic power of 
relation render him an interesting talker and speaker. 

John Carter Otis, son of Benjamin Bailey and Mary (Garter) Otis, was 
born in Worcester March 12, 1S25. He received his education in the public 
schools. At the age of fifteen he entered the employ of Samuel B. Scott, 
who kept a shoe-store in Worcester, and also went to live in his family, 
remaining in this situation four or five years. Later he assisted his father, 
who was a shoe and leather dealer and manufacturer, in his business. In 
1844 he went to St. Louis, Missouri, where his mother's brother resided, and 
was employed two or three years as a clerk, and afterwards engaged in the 
commission business. He returned to Worcester in 1848, and was in 
partnership with his father until 1850, when he formed a business connection 
with G. H. Fitch, under the firm name of Fitch & Otis, for the manufacture 
of boots and shoes, occupying first a shop on Front street, and later a 



7o6 The Worcester of 1898. 

portion of Bangs block on Main street. Tiie financial troubles of 1857 caused 
a suspension of their business in common with that of many others. 

In 1 861 Mr. Otis was employed for a time in the ofifice of the city treasurer, 
and the following year entered the Quinsigamond Bank as teller, and during 
the absence of the cashier on account of ill health, served as assistant 
cashier. He remained in this situation nearly ten years, and retired, greatly 
to the regret of the directors, to devote himself exclusively to the duties of 
treasurer of the Union Water Meter Company, an office to which he had 
been elected in 1868, when the company was formed by his brother-in-law, 
Honorable Phinehas Ball, and Abram and Benaiah Fitts, for the manufacture 
of the Ball & Fitts water meter. This position Mr. Otis still holds, and also 
that of president of the company, to which office he was elected on the death 
of Mr. Ball in 1894. 

Mr. Otis is a vice-president of the Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank; is 
a member of the Worcester County Mechanics Association, of which he has 
been vice-president, and served twelve years as a trustee; and is an active 
member of The Worcester Society of Antiquity. In religion he is a 
Unitarian; has been from childhood a member of the First Unitarian Church 
in Worcester, and was elected deacon in 1863; is a life member and was for 
several years a director of the American Unitarian Association; and served 
twenty-five years from 1866 as treasurer of the Worcester County Confer- 
ence of Unitarian Churches, of which body he is now vice-president. He is 
a man of upright character, generous and kindly disposition, and other solid 
qualities, which are justly appreciated by a large circle of friends and 
acquaintances. 

Mr. Otis married April 18, 1849, Mary E., daughter of John P. and Maria 
(Vose) Kettell. Mrs. Otis died February 2, 1894. Of their three children, 
two — a son and a daughter — survive. 

John P. K. Otis,* son of John C. and ilary E. (Kettell) Otis, was born in 
Worcester March 9, 1853. He attended the public schools of this city, 
leaving the high school in the second year. He was in the city engineer's 
office from 1869 to 1871. then entered the Worcester Free Institute, and was 
graduated as a civil engineer in 1873. He was assistant engineer of the 
Springfield, Massachusetts, water works from 1873 to 1876, and engineer of 
the Portland, Maine, Water Company from 1876 to 1878. For three years 
following he was instructor of civil engineering in the Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute. In 1880 he associated himself with the Union Water Meter 
Company, and in 1890 became manager of that concern, in which position 
he still remains. 

Mr. Otis is a member of the following organizations: The Worcester 
County Mechanics Association, the Worcester Board of Trade, the Worcester 
Society of Civil Engineers, The Worcester Society of Antiquitv, and the 
Commonwealth Club. 

Mr. Otis married in 1874 ]\riss Isabelle C. Stratton. They have five 
children. 

*See portrait on page 506. 



The Worcester of 1898. 707 

Nathaniel Paine, A. M.,* is a native of Worcester, born August 6, 1832. 
His ancestors were prominent in town affairs in Revolutionary times, and 
his grandfather was for many years the judge of probate of the county. 
Mr. Paine received his education in the public schools of Worcester, and at 
the age of seventeen entered the Mechanics Bank as clerk. In 1854 he became 
assistant cashier of the newly organized City Bank, and three years later 
was promoted to be cashier. This office he held to December 12, 1898. at 
which time he was elected president. He is connected with other financial 
institutions, is vice-president of the Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank, 
and chairman of the Worcester Clearing House Association. He was one 
of the founders of the Worcester Natural History Society, and its president 
for several years. In June, 1898, he received the honorary degree of Master 
of Arts from Harvard College. It is perhaps as an antiquary and historical 
student that Mr. Paine is best known. He is a prominent member of the 
American Antiquarian Society, and has for many years been its treasurer. He 
has contributed numerous papers and essays of value and interest to the 
publications of that society. He has written much of local history, and many 
articles from his pen have appeared in different publications. He is also 
activelyassociated with many other historical societies throughout the country. 
He was one of the founders of the Worcester Art Society, and has been its 
president, and is a director of the Art Museum Corporation. He is a great 
lover of books, and possesses a fine library, which contains many valuable 
and unique specimens, not a few of which are the result of his own 
handiwork in the line of extra illustrated copies. Mr. Paine was a director 
of the Free Public Library for eighteen years, and served one term in the 
Common Council, but his tastes do not naturally lead him into public life. 

Edmund L. Parker, son of John and Mary (Lawrence) Parker, was born at 
Cohasset, Massachusetts, February 8, 1847. He received his education in 
the public schools and at Wilbraham Academy. He for a time filled a 
position in the Second National Bank of Boston, and in 1870 became a 
member of the firm of Caverly, Parker & Young at Lynn. In 1876 he came 
to Worcester and was associated with his brother, John L. Parker, in the 
manufacture of sheet-metal goods at 70 School street. This business he 
continues, his brother having died several years ago. 

Mr. Parker has traveled extensively in this country and in Europe on 
business and pleasure, and is a man of affairs and large experience. He 
served four years in the Common Council from 1887 to 1890 inclusive, and 
was an alderman in 1891 and 1892, retiring with an enviable record for sound 
judgment and straightforward action. In politics he is a Republican, and 
has always been a consistent temperance man. As a candidate he proved a 
very popular man, receiving the highest number of votes on the ticket, and 
he declined a renomination to public office, greatly to the regret of his 
supporters. 

Mr. Parker married Miss Eva S. Jones of Lynn. In religion he is an 
Episcopalian, and a prominent member of St. John's Church. 



*See portrait on page 




EDMUND L. PARKER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 709 

Henry Langdon Parker,* a son of Asa and Margaret Ann (McCoristone) 
Parker, was born at Acton, Massachusetts, October 7, 1833. He was 
educated at Lawrence Academ}-, Groton, and at Dartmouth College, 
graduating from the latter institution in the class of 1856. He studied law 
and entered upon the practice of his profession in i860 in the town of 
Hopkinton. He was appointed a trial justice for Middlesex county in 1862, 
and held that ofHce until his removal to Worcester in 1865, in which city he 
has for the past thirty-three years resided, and where he is well known as 
one of the most reliable and prominent members of the Worcester county 
bar. 

While devoted to his profession and closely applying himself to its demands, 
Mr. Parker has given some time to public service. From 1882 to 1888 he 
was a member of the School Board of Worcester, where his influence was 
felt in all matters which contributed to the elevation of the standard in 
public education. In i886-'87 he was a representative in the Legislature, 
and was chairman of the Committee on Probate and Insolvency during his 
second term. He was a member of the Senate in 1889 and 1890, and was 
chairman of the Committees on Public Service, on the Judiciary, and on 
Rules and Election Laws. He was chairman of the committee appointed to 
revise the City Charter in 1893. 

Mr. Parker is deeply interested in horticulture, forestry, and kindred 
subjects, and was president of the Worcester County Horticultural Society 
from 1889 to 1896. He is one of the Trustees of Public Reservations in 
Massachusetts. In nature study and in literature he finds rela.xation from 
the arduous duties of his law practice. 

In religion Mr. Parker is an Episcopalian, and has been closely connected 
with that denomination for many years, serving as warden in both St. 
Matthew's and St. Clark's Churches. He has always been a Republican in 
politics. 

He was married in iS6i, and has three sons and two daughters. The 
eldest son, Henry L. Parker, Jr., a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1885, 
and of the Columbian Law School at Washington, D. C, is in law practice 
in the same office with his father. Another son, William H., is an instructor 
in Yale College. 

Charles Augustus Peabody M., D.,t was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, 
June 4, 1845. He was educated in the schools of his native town, at 
Phillips Andover Academy, and, entering Amherst College, was graduated 
in the class of 1868. For two years he was engaged in teaching as principal 
of the Georgetown Academy, in Delaware. Afterwards he began his 
medical course, and in 1873 he received his degree from Jefferson Medical 
College in Philadelphia. He immediately came to Worcester, and within a 
few months was chosen one of the physicians of the Washburn ilemorial 
Dispensary, which was opened in March, 1874, at the old Abijah Bigelow 
house on Front street, in the quarters vacated by the trustees of the City 
Hospital. In the fall of 1874 Doctor Peabody was elected superintendent 



^ See portrait on page 236. f See portrait on page 266. 



7IO The Worcester of 1898. 

of the Worcester City Hospital, which was then located at the corner of 
Wellington and Chandler streets, on the Jaques estate, and he remained in 
that station until the fall of 1876. Resigning this place he passed the next 
three years in India, going by way of Europe and returning by sailing- 
vessel over the Pacific ocean to Portland, Oregon, thence across the conti- 
nent to Massachusetts, thus completing the circuit of the world. During 
his stay in India he was in active practice in Bombay, and this experience 
and the knowledge acquired there have proved very valuable in later years. 
Early in 1880 he returned to Worcester and opened an office. He was 
appointed on the visiting staff of the City Hospital and served one term, 
but soon after accepted an appointment as one of the physicians at the 
State Lunatic Hospital, where he remained until December, 1881. When 
the new City Hospital on Jaques avenue was completed, he was reap- 
pointed to his former position as superintendent of that hospital, the 
duties of which office he has from that time to the present ably discharged. 
During this period he has always worked in harmony with the trustees, 
and under his management the hospital has developed into one of the best 
in the country. The various changes in methods of administration, the 
many and valuable improvements in the buildings and their appointments, 
the inception and successful operation of the Nurses' Training School, and 
many other necessary innovations, are largely due to his intelligent com- 
prehension, suggestion and supervision, and the cordial cooperation of the 
trustees. Within twenty years the number of patients treated has increased 
five-fold, and the accommodations at the institution have necessarily been 
enlarged in proportion. 

Doctor Peabody is a member of the Massachusetts and the Worcester 
District Medical Societies, and of the American Academy of Medicine. He 
is well known in social and fraternal bodies, has taken the several degrees 
of Free Masonry, and is a Knight Templar. He served one term as 
director of the Free Public Library. He is a member of The Worcester 
Society of Antiquity, and was one of the original members of the Con- 
gregational Club. His church connection is with the First or Old South, 
and he has been for several years clerk of the parish. He is president of 
the Amherst Alumni Association of Central Massachusetts. 

Doctor Peabody married in 1881 Miss Caroline E. Allen of Hubbardston. 
They have one son. 

Reverend Frank Dee Penney, pastor of Lincoln Square Baptist Church in 
Worcester, was born in Adams, Jefferson county. New York, April 26, 1857. 
His father, Alva Penney, a native of Plainfield, Otsego county, was in early 
life a mechanic, and later engaged in teaching school. He married Helen 
Stanbro, removed to Jefferson county, and later became a farmer in Oneida 
county, N. Y. He was a man of some prominence in that region, an intimate 
friend and admirer of Senator Roscoe Conkling, and in i866-'67 he represented 
his district in the Assembly in New York. 

The subject of this sketch received his early education in the district 
schools of his native place and at West Winfiekl Academy. He then passed 
three years at Colgate Academy in Hamilton, and, entering Colgate 



The Worcester of i{ 



711 




REvERE.MD FRANK D. PEI- 



University, was graduated as Bachelor of 

Arts in 1885, after a full four j'ears" 

course. His preparation for the ministry 

was pursued for the next three years at 

Hamilton Theological Seminary, from 

which institution he received his degree 

as Master of Arts in 1888. During this 

period he was professor of elocution in 

Colgate Academy, and assistant professor 

of elocution in Colgate University, serving 

in each position two years. June 23, 

1888, he became pastor of the Second Bap- 
tist Chtirch in Auburn, New York, where 

he was ordained July 27 of the same year. 

and remained five years; and from Sep- 
tember I, 1892, to February 14, 1897, he 

was pastor of the First Baptist Church 

in North Adams, Massachusetts. In both 

pastorates he labored with eminent success, leaving with his people the 

memory of faithful and efficient service in all departments of a Christian 

minister's work, having led in great revivals. 

Two days after the close of his term at North Adams, on the i6th of 

February, 1897, he received a unanimous call from the Lincoln Square 

Baptist Church of this city, which he accepted on the igth of that month, 
with the understanding that he was to pass the next three or four months 
in travel. Taking passage on the 27th of February, he made an extended 
tour through the eastern hemisphere, visiting Egypt, the Holy Land, 
Constantinople, Greece and Italy, returning in June. On the first Sunday 
in July, 1897, he began his active pastorate in Worcester, and hascontinued in 
the active discharge of the duties of his office to the present time. Under his 
direction the church has greatly prospered, both spiritually and materially, 
his coming marking an era of advancement in the history of that body. He 
is a strict, ardent advocate of temperance; a friend to the poor, and exempli- 
fies a symmetrical ministry; is public-spirited, sharing a wide acquaintance 
with business men. As a Christian minister he emphasizes the triumphs 
of the gospel and the evangelistic nurture of his people. 

Mr. Penney married July 27th, 1887, Florence, daughter of David and 
Janet (Marsh) Wheeler of Mannsville, Jefferson county. New York. Mrs. 
Penney was educated in Oswego Normal School and the Ladies' School at 
Hamilton, and was an efficient teacher for several years. They are the 
parents of two children: Sterling Wheeler, born June 19, 1892, in Auburn, 
New York, and Frank Dee, Jr., born in North Adams. ^Massachusetts, 
March 4th, 1896. 

Frank D. Perry, one of the leading business men of Worcester, resides in 
Quinsigamond Village, and in the same house where he was born, July 25, 
1856. His parents were Dexter H. and Elizabeth A. Perry, and the Perry 
family has been residents of this neighborhood for several generations. 




FRANK D. PERRY. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



713 



Mr. Perry was the sixth in a family of seven children. He was educated 
in the public schools of this city, leaving the high school before he had 
completed the course, on account of the death of his father March 16, 1872. 
For the following five years he worked on the farm for his mother, who 
died April 19, 1877. In 1876 he started an omnibus line to the city, and in 
1877 began to do general teaming. This new line of business proved a 
successful undertaking, and for ten years he continued it, having in use, at 
times, over twenty horses. 

In 1882 he opened a coal and wood yard, commencing in a small way, and 
gradually increasing to its present dimensions. He has also done a large 
business as a contractor in stone-work and street-making. At one time 




associated with Mr. H. S. Pike, he built streets in the Salisburj- extension, 
cutting down a heavy hill where the art building now stands, also another 
where the electric light plant is situated. Subsequently, in company with 
Henry W. Carter of Millbury, he graded the road-bed for the Millbury 
Electric Road, and put in the foundation for the power-station, engine-beds 
and the stone-work for the car-house, also much other work of a similar 
nature. 

Mr. Perry began the street-sprinkling business in 1887, using at that time 
only two carts. Later he bought the carts and good will of the late John A. 
Bancroft, who was carrying on the same kind of business, and for several 
years ran fifteen to twenty sprinklers. In 1895 ^^^^ American Car Sprinkler 
Company was organized for the purpose of operating the invention of John 
R. Gathright of Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Perry is a large stockholder. 




JOSEPH S. PERRY. 



THE WORCESTER OF l8gS. 715 

director, clerk of the corporation, and general superintendent. He is also 
president of other companies of the same kind in Hartford and New Haven, 
Connecticut. 

Mr. Perry is a Royal Arch Mason and an Odd Fellow. For several years 
he served his lodge as treasurer, and was compelled to decline further service 
on account of pressing business duties. In politics he is a Republican. He 
was married on his twenty-second birthday to Miss Elizabeth A. Carpenter 
of Putnam, Connecticut. Three children have been born to them, and two 
are still living. 

The family reside at the old homestead and in the house where Mr. Perry 
was born, which he has rebuilt, making an attractive, modern home, with 
all conveniences for comfort and beauty. 

Joseph Stone Perry was born on A'ernon street hill, Worcester, November 
3, 1828. He now lives on a part of the old home farm, which originally 
covered about 100 acres, and has been in the possession of the Perry family 
for nearly 150 years. The subject of this sketch was one of a family of ten 
children, and a brother is president of Doane College, Nebraska. 

Mr. Perry's education was obtained in the public schools and at the 
Leicester and Wilbraham Academies. The business of his life has been 
farming, and he is one of the largest and most successful farmers in Worces- 
ter county. He has also been interested in real-estate transactions, build- 
ing and selling houses erected on new streets cut through his farm. He 
now has a landed estate of nearly 200 acres and has twenty-one cottages 
and thirteen three-tenement houses, which he rents and now offers for sale. 
He has a large dairy and keeps about forty cows, running two milk routes. 
Large crops of hay, grain and vegetables are raised for market, and also 
to feed his live-stock. He has in the town of Auburn a fine, young apple 
orchard, which covers thirty acres and numbers 1,400 trees. 

In 1880 Mr. Perry was elected highway commissioner, and for three years 
served the city as street superintendent. He was chosen representative to 
the General Court, and sat in the State council during the session of 1885, 
serving as a member of the Committee on Agriculture. For many years he 
has been an active member of the Worcester County Agricultural Society, 
and is at the present time one of the Board of Trustees. 

Mr. Perry was married on New Year's day, 1855, to Miss Lucy A. Day of 
Ludlow, and six children have been born to them, four of whom are still 
living. One of the daughters was married to a son of Rev. Jonathan Green, 
a missionary to Honolulu. She died leaving two sons, who now live with 
their grandparents. Their youngest daughter. Miss Josephine Perry, was 
graduated from Smith College in the class of '96, and resides with her par- 
ents. 

Mr. and Mrs. Perry have traveled extensively in this country and Europe. 
Their last trip abroad was made last summer, their daughter accompanying 
them. They went by way of Gibraltar to Naples, Italy; then traveled 
through Switzerland and Austria to Russia, visiting Moscow and St. Peters- 
burg. From there they went to Norway and Sweden, Denmark, Germany 
and France; spending some time in Paris, and sailing for home at Havre. 




GENERAL JOSIAH PICKETT. 



The Worcester of 1898. 717 

The trip was much enjoyed, and Miss Perry brought home many interesting 
photographs of places and things which she took with her own camera. 

General Josiah Pickett. There are few names among those of the citizen 
soldiery of Massachusetts entitled to more prominent mention than that of 
Brevet Brigadier-General Josiah Pickett of Worcester. This honor and 
distinction are the result of his native force of character, personal bravery, 
and actual service in the War of the Rebellion. 

General Pickett was born at Beverly November 21, 1822, and after 
attending the common schools in his native town, successfully followed a 
mechanical occupation until called into the service of his country. Early 
in life he became earnestly interested in military affairs, which led to his 
enlistment as a member of Company F, Si.xth Infantry, Massachusetts 
Volunteer Militia, in Juh', 1840, being elected a lieutenant three years 
later. The gold excitement in 1849 carried him to California, and upon 
his return he came to Worcester in 1855, identifying himself soon after 
with the Worcester City Guards, and at the call for troops in April, 1861, 
responded as first lieutenant of this company, in which he served with 
Major Devens' Rifle Battalion at Fort McHenry, Maryland, for a term of 
three months. Returning from this service he organized and was com- 
missioned captain of Company A in the Twenty-tifth Massachusetts 
Infantry. This regiment formed a part of the famous Burnside expedition 
that encountered serious peril by sea, the objective being Roanoke 
Island, where Captain Pickett was officially complimented for gallantry 
in the engagement of February 8, 1862. He participated in the capture of 
New Berne March 14, and was promoted to the rank of major March 20, 1862. 

Major Pickett served as such until October 29, 1862, when he was made 
colonel to succeed Colonel Upton, who had resigned. This splendid regi- 
ment, one of the best and bravest, saw most of its distinguished service 
under the direction of Colonel Pickett, and much of the unrivaled discipline 
and gallant conduct of the Twenty-fifth so brilliantly displayed in the War 
for the Union can be attributed to the ability of its commander. 

During the Goldsborough campaign and the subsequent active military 
operations in North Carolina, Colonel Pickett won further distinction for 
efficient service. In the spring of 1863 he was in command of the garrison 
at Plymouth on the Roanoke when seriously threatened by the Confeder- 
ates, and the following autumn successfully commanded the sub-district of 
the Pamlico, for which he received honorable mention when ordered to 
Virginia in December, 1863. 

Rejoining his regiment, then assigned to the Army of the James, Colonel 
Pickett won special praise for courage and military capacity in the opera- 
tions south of Richmond during the spring of 1864. At Arrowfield Church 
his bravery and coolness were particularly conspicuous. In the severe 
fog-fight at Drewry's Bluff, after the capture of General Heckman, Colonel 
Pickett quickly rallied the shattered regiments of the brigade and saved 
the Union right from serious disaster. 

Later, while serving with the Army of the Potomac, Colonel Pickett 
achieved his highest reputation as a soldier as he gallantly led his heroic 




ALFRED S. PINKERTON. 



The Worcester of 1898. 719 

regiment through that terrible fire at the battle of Cold Harbor, in which 
he was severely wounded and the Twenty-fifth nearly annihilated, sustain- 
ing a loss of seventy-three per cent, in killed and wounded and missing. 

This gallant charge of the regiment is described by the Confederate 
General Bowles, who witnessed it from the rebel entrenchments: 

" ( )n looking over the works I discovered what I supposed one regiment, 
with an officer in front with sword raised high in air, calling on his men to 
charge. The heroic regiment that made this gallant charge was the 
Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, which was the only regiment that obeyed 
orders to advance. The balance of the brigade had refused to go forward, 
and not since the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava has a more 
heroic act been performed." 

For distinguished bravery on this occasion and meritorious conduct 
during the war, Colonel Pickett was commissioned brevet brigadier-general, 
to date from June 3, 1864. It was not until the following November that 
General Pickett returned to his regiment. He was still suffering severely 
from his wound, and being disabled from further active military duty 
completed his regimental reports, took leave of his old comrades and 
retired from the service in January, 1865, carrying with him the respect 
and good wishes of the officers and men, who under his command had 
performed their duties so faithfully, and fought so gallantly to sustain the 
honor of the flag and the supremacy of the government. 

General Pickett accepted a position in the Custom House in October, 
1865, and in September, 1866, he was appointed postmaster of Worcester, 
discharging the duties of this office to the satisfaction of the public and 
the department for more than twenty years. In 1889 Governor Ames 
appointed him a member of the State Armory Commission. 

The military associations of General Pickett formed during the Civil War 
have been actively sustained in times of peace. He is a charter member of 
the Massachusetts Commandery of the Loyal Legion, president of the 
Twenty-fifth Veteran Regiment Association, member of the Grand Army 
of the Republic, and has been treasurer of Post 10 relief fund from the 
beginning. The other military and civic organizations with which he is 
widely known and identified are quite too numerous to mention in this 
limited space. 

The patriotic service of General Pickett during the perilous days of the 
Republic deserves gratitude and honor. His services in civil office have 
been invariably efficient. Fidelity to duty is the controlling motive of 
his life. 

Alfred S. Pinkerton, son of William C. and Maria Pinkerton, was born in 
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, March 19, 1S56. He was educated in the schools 
of Lancaster and Scranton. At the age of thirteen, his father having died, 
he removed with his mother, who was a native of Massachusetts, to Worces- 
ter, where he was employed as a bookkeeper in a large manufacturing 
establishment. Having determined to enter upon a professional career, 
he pursued his studies evenings after working through the day, and after 
thorough preparation began the study of law in the office of the late 



720 The Worcester of 1898. 

Honorable Peter C. Bacon. He was admitted to the bar in 1S81, and in 
his chosen calling and in politics he has been very successful. In 18S7 he 
was elected a representative in the General Court, and was twice reelected, 
serving as chairman of important committees, as a member of the Com- 
mittee on the Judiciary, and taking a foremost place in debate on the floor 
of the House. In 1890 he was elevated to the Senate as a member from the 
Fourth Worcester District, and served four terms. His prominence in that 
body is evidenced by his appointment, in his second year, as chairman of 
the Committee on the Judiciary, the highest honor in the gift of the chair, 
and by the fact that the two last years of his service he was elected presi- 
dent of the Senate by a unanimous vote. He was also a member of the 
Committees on Constitutional Amendments, on Probate and Chancery, and 
others. During his long service in both branches, he was frequently heard 
in debate, always commanding attention; and in the chair of the Senate he 
made a reputation as a parliamentarian. For a number of years he has 
been prominent in the Republican party organization, serving on Republi- 
can State Central Committee and as chairman, secretary and treasurer of 
the County Committee. He is in constant demand as a public speaker, 
especially during political campaigns. 

Mr. Pinkerton is prominently connected with the Masonic fraternity, being 
past master of Athelstan Lodge, member of Eureka Chapter, Worcester 
Council, and Worcester County Commandery, Knights Templars. He is also 
high in the councils of Odd Fellowship; has served at the head of Worcester 
Lodge and Wachusett Encampment, and holds membership in the Canton 
and Rebekah Lodge of that order. Entering the Grand Lodge of Massa- 
chusetts in 1882, he was elected grand master in 1888, and was the youngest 
man who ever held that position; was elected representative to Sovereign 
Lodge in 1889-1893, where he has taken a commanding position. Since 
retiring from the office of grand master, he has been chairman of the Com- 
mittee of Finance of the Grand Lodge, and was a member of the committee 
which reported in favor of the establishment of an Odd Fellows' Home, 
which has since been erected in Worcester. He is now the head of the 
order in the world. 

He is a member of the Republican Club of Massachusetts and of the 
Hancock Club of Worcester, and is one of the vice-presidents of the Middle- 
sex Club. He has served as a director of the Free Public Library in 
Worcester. 

Mr. Pinkerton is unmarried. 

Charles B. Pratt * was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, February 14, 1S24. 
His parents were unable to afford him even the ordinary educational 
advantages, and he was at an early age thrown upon his own resources. He 
obtained employment in a cotton-mill in Fitchburg before he was twelve 
years old, and a year later had made his way to Rochester, New York, 
where he engaged to learn the moulders' trade. In 1838, when only fourteen 
years of age, he began his remarkable experience as a sub-marine diver by 



■ See portrait on pai:;e 56. 



The Worcester of 1898. 721 

volunteering- to take the place of a professional diver who had engaged to 
give an exhibition at Rochester and failed to appear. Young Pratt remained 
under water an hour, and was paid fifty dollars for the feat. He afterwards 
engaged extensively in operations at Key West, Gibraltar and other places, 
and was well known in connection with the attempts to raise the Hussar, the 
British treasure ship, which was sunk at Pot Rock, in the East river, near 
New York, November 25, 1780, with specie to the amount of ^^960, 000. 

Mr. Pratt took up his residence in Worcester in 1S47. He was engaged 
more or less in sub-marine diving until 187 1, but found time during that 
period to engage in other enterprises and to devote to public duties. He 
was city marshal from 1863 to 1865, and in this position his native energy 
and executive ability were conspicuous. His connection witli the Worcester 
County Agricultural Society as its president for several years brought him 
into contact with large numbers, and greatly increased his popularity. 

In December, 1876, he was elected mayor of Worcester over the regular 
Republican candidate, and was twice reelected. The difficulties with which 
he had to contend during his administration were met and overcome by the 
exercise of those qualities for which he is distinguished. In 1883 he was a 
member of the State Senate. 

Mr. Pratt's large financial and business interests had made him widely 
known as a man of enterprise and sound judgment. He organized the 
Citizens' Street Railway Company in 1885, and had been president of the 
Worcester Consolidated Street Railway Company since 1S92. He was 
president of the First National Fire Insurance Company, and identified 
with several other corporations. He was a 32*^ Mason, an Odd Fellow, 
and a member of other fraternal organizations. 

Mr. Pratt married Miss Lucy Ann Brewer, who died several years ago. 
Their son, Captain Charles T. Pratt, is well known as a press correspondent. 
The only other child, Isaac Davis Pratt, died at four years of age. Mr. 
Pratt died May 9th, 1S98. 

Henry Salem Pratt, eldest son of Salem and Sally (Hobbs) Pratt, was 
born at Brookfield, Massachusetts, November 18, 1836. His grandfather. 
Captain Joseph Pratt, was an ofificer in the War of 181 2. Henry's parents 
removed when he was quite young to Charlton, and here he remained until 
he was seventeen, receiving his education in the schools of that town, and 
working with his father bottoming boots. In 1853 he came to Worcester 
and worked at first in a shoe-store for his board. After two years' experience 
as a clerk in a dry-goods store, he, in 1855, engaged as a salesman in the 
clothing-store of A. P. Ware, and ten years later became a partner in the 
business. In 1866 a branch firm was formed under the name of Ware & 
Pratt, which in 1869 was consolidated with the old establishment as Ware, 
Pratt & Co. The store was moved from the Paine block, near Walnut 
street, to the First National Bank building. The present year has witnessed 
another removal to the State Mutual Life Assurance building, where they 
now have the largest and finest clothing-store in the State. In 1857 the 
company began the inanufacture of clothing for the retail trade, and the 
business has developed into one of the largest of its kind in Massachusetts. 
46 




HENRY S. PRATT. 



The Worcester of ii 



723 



Mr. Ware retired from the firm in 1870, and Edward T. Wardwell and 
William W. Johnson became associated with Mr. Pratt as partners. 
January i, 1888, a stock company was formed, with Mr. Johnson as president 
and Mr. Pratt as treasurer. 

Several years ago Mr. Pratt purchased the Hillcroft farm, where he has 
erected a fine residence. This is one of the most charming spots in 
Worcester, the view from there being extensive and varied. He also 
erected the Chadwick building on Main street. 

In 1887 Mr. Pratt became a director in the Citizens National Bank, and 
vice-president in 1891. On the death of Honorable Samuel Winslow, the 




RESIDENCE OF HENRY S. PRATT, BURNCOAT STREET. 

president, in the fall of 1894, Mr. Pratt was chosen to fill the vacancy. He 
has been at the head of that institution ever since. He is also connected 
with the Mechanics Savings Bank, and occupies the position of trustee. 

On the 24th of December, 1857, Mr. Pratt was married to Miss Malor 
Fletcher, whose mother's family name is perpetuated by the Chadwick 
building. They have no children. 

In religious belief he is a Unitarian, and attends the First Church. 
He has always been a Republican in politics, but never wouldaccept 
office, preferring to devote his time and ability to his business inter- 
ests. 

Mr. Pratt belongs to the Hancock and Commonwealth Clubs, and is held 
in high esteem by his friends. He is an unassuming, respected and pros- 
perous citizen, and the active manager of the Ware-Pratt Co. 




SUMNER PRATT. 



The Worcester of 1898. 725 

Sumner Pratt, son of Elias, Junior, and Sally (Conant) Pratt, was born in 
Oxford, Massachusetts, September 30, 1809. His grandfather, Captain 
Elias Pratt, on whose farm he was born and where he lived during his early 
childhood, was a Revolutionary soldier of some note and a descendant in the 
fourth generation from Thomas Pratt, who came from London, England, 
and was a resident of Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1647. In 1817 the par- 
ents of Sumner removed to Sutton, where he attended school and worked 
on the farm until he became of age. In 1831 he left home and engaged in 
the manufacture of loom-shuttles at North Grafton and Wilkinsonville 
until 1835, and during the eight years following sold loom-shuttles and 
cotton yarns on commission. In 1843 he removed to Worcester, trans- 
ferring the machinery from Woonsocket to a mill at New Worcester, and 
for two years manufactured cotton thread, finally disposing of the business 
in 1845 to Albert Curtis. From that time until his withdrawal from busi- 
ness in 1883, Mr. Pratt engaged in selling cotton and woolen machinery and 
mill supplies. The store at 22 Front street was established in 185 1; the 
business gradually extended to reach manufacturers in distant parts of the 
country, and in its management he built up a large and profitable trade. 

Mr. Pratt was a man much esteemed in the community for his integrity 
and sound judgment, and his services were often solicited in places of honor 
and trust. He served as a member of both branches of the City Government, 
and for one year was president of the Board of Trade. He was a trustee of 
the Worcester County Institution for Savings, a vice-president of the Peo- 
ple's Savings Bank, and a director of the Safe Deposit & Trust Company. 
In politics he was at first a Whig, and then a Republican. He was an 
Episcopalian, and a warden and vestryman of All Saints' Church. He died 
January 6, 1887. 

Sumner Pratt was twice married. His first wife was Serena, daughter of 
Caleb Chase of Sutton, and the two children of this marriage, Frederick S. 
and Emma A., are now living. He married, second, in 1850, Abby Curtis, 
daughter of Ebenezer Read of Worcester, by whom he had one son, Edward 
R., who died in 1880. 

Harrison Southwick Prentice,* son of Henry and Tabitha Leland (South- 
wick) Prentice, was born in Worcester August 10, 1836. He was educated 
in the public schools, and at the age of eighteen engaged in the provision 
business. He soon became interested in buying and selling real estate, and 
has been connected with extensive operations in this line. He has erected 
several of the largest and finest business blocks in the city, on Front, Pleas- 
ant, Main and other streets, the latest being the Bellmar on Main street. 

Although at dilTerent times solicited to hold public office, Mr. Prentice 
has uniformly declined, the single exception being his appointment as a 
member of the commission to supervise the erection of the new City Hall, 
which service he with his colleagues creditably discharged. 

Mr. Prentice married in 1859 Emma N., daughter of Charles Bowen. Of 
six children a son, Charles H., and two daughters, Elizabeth Helen, the 



■ See portrait on page 344. 



726 The Worcester of 1898. 

wife of Doctor R. H. Swan, and Miss Emma Louise, are living. His 
youngest son, Harrison B., died at the age of twenty-six, Clara Emma 
at the age of two years, and Edward Harrison at the age of five years. 

Otis Earle Putnam,* son of Salmon and Tryphena (Bigelow) Putnam, was 
born in Leicester, ^lassachusetts, February 20, 1831. He is a direct de- 
scendant in the eighth generation of Thomas Putnam, son of John Putnam, 
who came to America in 1634. His parents removed to Boston when he 
was quite young, and in 1843 changed their residence to Worcester, where 
the subject of this sketch has since lived. He received his education in 
the common and high schools, and in 1847 became a clerk in • the dry-goods 
store of John B. Wyman, who in 1850 sold the business to H. H. Chamber- 
lin. He remained in the employment of H. H. Chamberlin & Co., and 
also with Chamberlin, Barnard & Co. until 1S57, when he was admitted 
to the firm and maintained that connection until 1892, when the Barnard, 
Sumner & Putnam Company was formed under the laws of the Common- 
wealth. Of this corporation he has been successively treasurer and vice- 
president, and is now president and treasurer of the said corporation. 

During his connection with the business it has developed from moderate 
proportions into one of the largest dry-goods establishments in New 
England, and this result is in no small degree due to the business ability, 
energy and sound judgment of Mr. Putnam. The company enjoys a 
reputation for fair dealing and general reliability equaled by few in the 
country. 

Mr. Putnam is connected with several financial and social organizations 
in Worcester. He is a director of the City National Bank, a trustee of 
the Five Cents Savings Bank, of the Worcester Music Hall Association, 
and vice-president of the Worcester & Marlborough Electric Railroad. He 
is a member of the Board of Trade and of the Worcester Commonwealth 
Club, and an honorary member of the Worcester Light Infantry, of Battery 
B and of the Worcester Continentals. In politics he is a Republican. 

Mr. Putnam married, first. Miss Harriet E. Waite of Worcester, who 
died in 1863. He married, second, in 1866, Miss Louisa Davis of Lowell. 
They have one son, Arthur D. Putnam, born February 16, 1868, who is at 
present assistant treasurer of the Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Company. 
Mr. Putnam occupies the fine residence at the corner of Harvard and Dix 
streets. 

Edward Tilly Raymond, son of Tilly and Mercy R. Raymond, was born in 
Worcester August 8, 1844. He was educated in the public schools and at 
the Highland Military Academy. On the i8th of September, 1861, at the 
age of seventeen, he entered the L^nion army as sergeant of Company K, 
Twenty-fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers. In August, 1862, he 
was commissioned first lieutenant in the Thirty-sixth Regiment, and was 
promoted to be captain and major. In June, 1863, he was detailed on staff 
duty as assistant inspector-general in the Ninth Army Corps, and served 
with Generals Curtin, Griffin, Bartlett, Potter and Burnside. He was 



*See portrait on Jiage 414. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



727 




EDWARD T. RAYMOND. 



present and participated in thirty-five 
sieges and battles, including the Wilder- 
ness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, and 
had five horses shot under him, and was 
mustered out of service June 8, 1865. 
After the war he was appointed super- 
intendent of bonded warehouses for the 
port of Boston and Charlestown, and 
remained in that capacity until 1882. He 
was admitted to the bar in 1880, and in 
January, 1SS2, entered upon his dutie 
as clerk of the Central District Court, 
which office he has held, with the excep- 
tion of one term, to the present time. 
During the interim, from 1892 to 1897, he 
was one year secretary of the Board of 
Trade, and four years chief of police. He 
was chief marshal of the Columbian and Semi-Centennial parades in 1893 
and 1898. 

Charles Gardner Reed* was born in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, April 
22, 1835. He removed to Worcester with his parents in 1849. Obliged to 
work in the wheel-factory during the day, his only opportunity for an 
education was the evening school, and by close application he was able to 
pass the examinations and to enter the high school without going through 
the intermediate grades. After leaving the high school, he became interested 
in the manufacture and sale of carriage-wheels and carriage material, and 
has successfully carried on this business in Worcester, with branches in 
Boston, and Mount Airy, North Carolina, for more than forty years. 

Mr. Reed has been greatly honored by the trust and confidence of the 
citizens of Worcester, receiving, when voted for, an election with the largest 
number of votes upon the ticket. He is a member of many organizations, 
in all of which he has been elected to the highest offices in their gift. He 
has been a trustee, vice-president and president of the Worcester County 
Mechanics Association. He has served upon every important committee of 
the City Government, and as chairman of nearly every one. He was eight 
years a member of the City Government as councilman and alderman, and 
two years mayor, making ten years' service at the City Hall. He was 
president of the Common Council three years, and president of the Board of 
Aldermen while a member of that board, and represented the latter upon 
the Board of Trustees of the City Hospital. 

Alderman Reed, as chairman of the Water Committee, was the leading- 
spirit in the securing of Tatnuck brook as the source of an additional water 
supply, as well as the introduction of the water in reservoirs and pipe-lines 
to the city proper. While chairman of the Committee on the Fire Depart- 



^ See portrait on page 64. 



728 The Worcester of 1898. 

ment, the department was reorganized, new rules were adopted, and the 
present Station 2 of the Police Department transferred to the police from 
the Fire Department, and better accommodations provided for the Fire 
Department, at the same time giving that section of the city better police 
protection. 

At the expiration of 'Mr. Reed's term as alderman, he was elected mayor 
for the year 1884, and again elected for 1885. As mayor under the old 
charter, he was, ex-officio, president of the School Board, chairman of the 
Overseers of the Poor; also director of the Boston, Barre& Gardner Railroad, 
representing the city in the sale of the stock to the Fitchburg Railroad. 

Ex-Mayor Reed is much interested in all that concerns Worcester. He 
was active in the reorganization of the Board of Trade, has been one of its 
directors for the past five years, and president the past year. He is a 
Republican in State and national affairs, and independent in city politics, 
holding that in local affairs the citizens should vote for the best man 
irrespective of political affiliations. 

William Whitney Rice,* son of Reverend Benjamin and Lucy (Whitney) 
Rice, was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, March 7, 1826, and died in 
Worcester March i, 1S96. On his father's side he was descended in the 
seventh generation from Edmund Rice, the progenitor of the family in 
America, who came from England and settled in Sudbury in 1639. His 
mother was a daughter of Phinehas Whitney of Winchendon, the sixth in 
direct line of descent from John Whitney, the emigrant, who was a resi- 
dent of Watertown in 1635. 

Mr. Rice's boyhood was passed at New Gloucester and Buxton in Maine, 
places of his father's settlement as minister, with the exception of the 
time during which he attended the academy in Gorham. After three 
years' instruction in the last-named institution he entered Bowdoin College 
and was graduated in the class of 1846. He taught school for a short time 
in Maine, and in 1847 became a teacher at Leicester Academy in Massachu- 
setts, where he remained four years. In 1851 he began the study of 
law in the office of Emory Washburn and George F. Hoar in Worcester, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1854. He at once entered upon a large 
practice. He was chosen a member of the School Committee and served 
as secretary several years. In 1835 he received the appointment of special 
justice of the Police Court, and three years later became judge of insol- 
vency for the county, which office he held until it was merged with that 
of judge of probate. 

In December, 185-9, he was eiected mayor of Worcester, being the first 
Republican and the youngest man who, up to that time, had held that 
office. The specific acts of his administration are detailed in another part 
of this volume. From 1868 to 1873 Mr. Rice discharged the duties of 
district attorney for the Middle District with marked faithfulness and 
ability. In 1875 he served one term as a representative in the General 
Court, his services being especially desired at that time to oppose the 
threatened division of Worcester county. 

* See portrait on page 34. 



The Worcester of 1898. 729 

In 1876, on the retirement of the Honorable George F. Hoar from his 
eight years* service as the representative of the Worcester District in 
Congress, Mr. Rice was selected to succeed him, and he was continued in 
that office by successive reelections until March 4, 1887. In the national 
House of Representatives he manifested the same qualities for which he 
was distinguished elsewhere, and he carried a quiet but strong influence in 
that body. The following appreciative review of his services was printed 
in the Boston Joiirna/: 

"Representative W. W. Rice was appointed a member of the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs and on Indian Affairs, as well as a member of the select 
committee for additional accommodations for the Congressional Library. 
The most important bill of a public character which he introduced was one 
to terminate the provisions of the treaty of 1871 with Great Britain relative 
to the fisheries. His list of reports shows that he was a very conscientious 
member of that committee. His report on the Congressional Library build- 
ing will be a permanent authority on that subject, even if the scheme which 
he has so much at heart for the construction of a new library building should 
fail. His report from the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the brig 'Gen- 
eral Armstrong,' on Fisheries, on St. John's and St. Francis river bridges, 
and on the Venezuela Mixed Commission, leaves nothing more to be said on 
these subjects. They are exhaustive treatises on every one of the matters 
to which they relate, and some of them will have a permanent value as 
historical works. There is no better chapter of that portion of American 
history to which it relates than Mr. Rice's report on the brig 'General 
Armstrong,' and he had the satisfaction of seeing the bill upon which he 
had spent so much labor finally become a law after it had been before 
Congress for a quarter of a century. His report on the fisheries is an 
exhaustive treatise, and is one from which Congressional reports will be 
compelled to draw their facts. From the Committee on Indian Affairs he 
submitted a report on the traditions of the Sioux and Dakota Indians. His 
principal speeches were on the following subjects: 'The Death of General 
Burnside'; ' The Appropriation for Cherokee Indians'; ' Chinese Immigra- 
tion'; 'The Congressional Library'; 'The Brig "General Armstrong"'; 
the international fishery question; the bill to protect innocent purchasers 
of patented articles; on the bill granting the right of way through the 
Indian Territory to the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company; on 
the proper reference of questions relative to treatise; and on the transfer 
of War Department records to the State Department building. Mr. Rice 
was constantly in attendance upon the investigation of the Foreign Affairs 
Committee into the Chili-Peru business, and his work is seen in the e.xhaus- 
tive report of that committee, although it is not directly credited to him." 

Mr. Rice was a warm personal friend and admirer of Mr. Blaine, and 
felt a keen disappointment at his defeat for the office of president. Had 
the result been otherwise, there is no doubt that Mr. Rice would have taken 
a prominent place in the administration. 

After his retirement from Congress, Mr. Rice took no public office, but 
devoted himself to the duties of his profession until declining health com- 




CHARLES A, RICHARDSON. 



The Worcester of 1898. 731 

pelled him to cease active participation in business. In 1S92 he visited 
Europe, an experience which gave him much satisfaction and enjoyment, 
particularly as he was enabled to visit the old home in England of the 
Whitney ancestors, from whom he descended, and to make clear and to 
verify the early records of "The Whitney Family," a work into which he 
entered with delight. His carefully prepared "Whitney Narrative" was 
printed by his family after his decease. 

Mr. Rice was an overseer of Bowdoin College, a trustee of Leicester 
Academy, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Clark University, and 
a member of the American Antiquarian Society. He was a director and 
the solicitor of the City National Bank for many years previous to his 
death. His alma mater conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of 
Laws in i8S6. 

In 1855 Mr. Rice married Cornelia A. Moen, who died in 1862. Two sons 
were born of this marriage, of whom the elder, William Whitney Rice, 
Junior, died in early childhood. The other, Charles Moen Rice, a graduate 
of Harvard LTniversity in 1882, was in a law partnership with his father 
several years, and continues a member of the firm of Rice, King & Rice. 
In 1875 Mr. Rice married Alice Miller, a daughter of the late Henry W. 
Miller, and sister of the present wife of Senator Hoar. His widow survives 
him. 

Charles A. Richardson, son of Charles O. and ]Mary E. Richardson, was 
born in Boston April 29, 1858. He removed with his parents to Worcester 
in 1870, and completed his education at the Worcester high school. In 1892 
he organized the Worcester Construction Company under the laws of the 
State of Massachusetts. The business of this company increased from 
$60,000 at the start to something over a million of dollars in 1897, during 
which year it employed about twelve hundred men. It has built and 
equipped, including tracks, electrical structures, power-stations, car-houses 
and rolling-stock, the following roads: Gloucester, Essex & Beverly, 
Milford, Holliston & Framingham, Warren, Brookfield & Spencer, Athol & 
Orange, Worcester & Marlborough, Norfolk Central, Norfolk Suburban, 
Boston, Milton & Brockton, Worcester & Millbury, Marlborough & Hudson, 
West Roxbury & Roslindale, Southbridge & Sturbridge, in Massachusetts; 
Calais & St. Stephen, Bangor, Oldtown & Orono, Bath Electric Railway, in 
Maine ; Barre & Montpelier Traction & Power Company, in Vermont ; Hoosic 
Street Railway Company, in New York; Torrington & Winchester, in 
Connecticut; Glean, Rock City & Bradford, and Easton, Palmer & 
Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Richardson is part owner in all the above roads, and has, without 
doubt, bnilt and equipped more electric railway systems than any other 
contractor in New England if not in the United States. He is president of 
the Worcester Construction Company, president of the Easton, Palmer & 
Bethlehem vStreet Railway Company, treasurer of the Glean, Rock City & 
Bradford, and of the Torrington & Winchester Street Railway Companies; 
general manager of the Bradford Street Railway Company of Pennsylvania, 
and director of the Maiden Trust Company, Maiden, Massachusetts; also a 




CHARLES O. RICHARDSON. 



The Worcester of 1898. 733 

member of the firm of Ferguson & Richardson, electric car-builders of 
Ashbiirnham, Massachusetts. 

Mr. Richardson is a 32° Mason and a Knight Templar; a member of Blake 
Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and past chancellor of the order; a member of 
the Worcester Board of Trade and of the Worcester Club; and of the 
Exchange Club of Boston. 

Charles 0. Richardson was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, Sep- 
tember 26, 1S33. At the age of sixteen he went to Boston, where he 
engaged in the paving business, and remained in that city over twenty 
years. In 1870 he removed to Worcester, and during the twenty-eight 
years of his residence here was given all the contracts of the city for 
paving the public streets, and also during that time carried on an extensive 
paving business in other New England cities. In 1892 he became treasurer 
of the Worcester Construction Company, which office he held at the time 
of his death. His business ability and reputation were of a high order. 
He was a man of large means and broad charity, and he yearly dispensed 
considerable sums in unostentatious benevolence. 

Mr. Richardson was prominent in social and fraternal organizations. 
He was a 32° Mason, a member of Montacute Lodge, and Worcester 
County Commandery, Knights Templars; of Ouinsigamond Lodge, I. O. 
(). F. ; of Blake Lodge, Knights of Pythias; and of other local bodies. He 
was a member of the Worcester County Mechanics Association, of the 
Commonwealth Club, honorary member of the Wellington Rifles and of 
the Fire Patrol. He was interested in religious and charitable work, was a 
member and trustee of the Laurel Street Methodist Episcopal Church and 
of the Methodist Episcopal City Missionary and Church Extension Society. 
He formerly resided at the old Hayward estate on Main street, and latterly 
at 6 Woodland street, where his death occurred July 7, 1898. 

His surviving family consists of his widow, two sons — Charles A. and 
Morton O. — and a daughter, Mrs. George A. Loud. 

Alfred Seelye Roe,* son of Reverend Austin M. and Polly C. (Seelye) 
Roe, was born in Rose, Wayne county. New York, June 8, 1844. His 
father is a Methodist minister, whose ancestry settled on Long Island in 
1660, and his mother is of an early Connecticut family. 

Mr. Roe prepared for college at Falley Seminary, Fulton, New York, 
and was graduated at Wesleyan University in 1870. He served during the 
Rebellion in Company A, Ninth New York Heavy Artillery, Colonel 
William H. Seward, Jr. ; was taken prisoner at Monocacy Junction, Mary- 
land, June 9, 1864, and was held at Dansville, Virginia, till February 
22, 1865. 

In 1870 Mr. Roe came to Massachusetts, and was principal of the high 
school in Ashland for five years following. In 1875 he became a teacher in 
the Worcester high school, and succeeded to the principalship in 1880, in 
which position he remained ten years, maintaining an enviable popularity 
with his pupils to the end. In 1890, after his resignation, he visited 

* See portrait on page 25S. 




THOMAS M. ROGERS. 



The Worcester of 1898. 735 

Europe. During the years 1891 and 1S92 he was the editor and publisher 
of Light, a weekly journal of news and literature. He was elected to the 
Massachusetts House of Representatives in November, 1891, to serve the 
succeeding year, and was three times reelected. He was a member of the 
State Senate in 1S96, 1897 and 1898, and it is worthy of note that in the 
annual nominating conventions during this period of seven years he met 
little or no opposition. This almost unexampled record is in itself a 
sufficient attestation that his legislative course has met with the approval 
of his constituents. During six years of his term of service he was House 
or Senate chairman of the Committee on Education, and he has been a 
member of the Committees on Cities, Libraries, Public Service, and the 
State House. He introduced the plan to add $100,000 yearly to the public 
school fund till it should reach $5,000,000, and secured the passage of the 
bill for manual training. He is one of the acknowledged saviours of the 
Bulfinch front of the State House, and gave the address, January 2, 1895, 
when the old representatives' hall was vacated for the new. Also he deliv- 
ered the centennial address of the Bulfinch State House January 11, 1898. 
Both addresses are published by the State. He introduced and carried 
through the law for the preservation of song-birds. In all matters con- 
nected with education, temperance and morals he has taken a prominent 
part. 

Mr. Roe is the author of numerous pamphlets on education, local history 
and military matters. In 1892 he published a history of the Worcester 
high school, and in 1893 a history of his native town of Rose, New York. 
He is the editor of the Massachusetts Year Book, and supervised the 
printing of the Bradford Manuscript for the Legislature. He has lectured 
many times before Young Men's Christian Associations and other bodies 
on education, temperance, and kindred subjects. He is a member and 
past commander of Post 10, Grand Army of the Republic, is president of 
the Worcester Young Men's Christian Association, and is a prominent 
member of The Worcester Society of Antiquity. 

]\Ir. Roe was married June 22, 1874, to Nora A. Metcalf of Ashland. 
They have two children living, Annabel C. and Harriet E. 

Thomas Moore Rogers was born in Holden May 10, 1818. He was the only 
son of his parents, Nathan and Mary C. Rogers, but both had children by 
former marriage, and he was brought up in a numerous family of half 
brothers and sisters, which was increased after his mother's death in 1828 by 
his father's third marriage. He was early inured to hard labor upon the 
farm, and became rugged and self-reliant, doing almost a man's work at the 
age of twelve. He attended the district and high schools of his native town, 
and also had the advantage of one term at Westfield Academy. At seven- 
teen he bought the remainder of his time of his father for $100, which he 
paid when he reached his majority, and he had saved quite a sum in addition. 
He came to Worcester in August, 1840, to work for Blake & Trumbull, 
grocers, who kept a store in Butman block. In 1841 he engaged with a 
partner, under the firm name of Smith & Rogers, in the manufacture of 
goatskin shoes, at the north corner of Main and Mechanic streets, but the 



736 



The Worcester of i! 



building was burned in less than two months, and the undertaking was not 
renewed. He then passed several months in Oswego, N. Y., where he went 
to start a shoe-store, and returned to Worcester in January, 1S42, and again 
engaged in the manufacture of shoes. 

In April, 1843, Mr. Rogers was married to Mary S., daughter of Israel 
and Charlotte Rice of Shrewsbury. Two children were born of this 
marriage, Ellen Frances and Walter Thomas. The former survives. 

In 1844 Mr. Rogers entered into partnership with John P. Southgate in 
the leather and shoe-findings business. They first occupied a store on the 
site of Piper block, and in 1850 removed to the corner of Main and Pleasant 




RESIDENCE OF THOMAS M. ROGERb, 2c ; ;.-... .. .i,l^,. 

Streets, where Rogers block now stands. With changes in partners, Mr. 
Rogers remained in this location until he retired from the business in 1873. 
In the meantime he had become largely interested in real estate, of which 
he acquired several valuable parcels and tracts in different parts of the city 
and elsewhere. He purchased a part of the Deacon Brooks farm at South 
Worcester, through which he laid out Southgate and Canterbury streets. 
He also bought valuable lots on Trumbull and Front streets, and in 1863 
built the first large brick block on Front street west of Church street and east 
of Harrington corner block. In 1869 he built Rogers block, the estate having 
come into his hands by purchase three years before; and in 1880, with 
Edwin Morse, erected the Odd Fellows' building on Pleasant street. In 
1883 the large block in Salem square was built, and he has engaged in other 
ventures. His fine residence at the corner of High and Chatham streets he 
erected in 1868. 



The Worcester of li 



7^7 



!Mr. Rogers served in the Common Council in i877-'78, and was an 
alderman in i886-'87. He is connected with the management of several 
banks and other financial institutions, and president of the Electric Light 
Company. He has always been a Republican in politics, and is a member 
of the Union parish. 

Charles F. Rugg was born on the Bancroft farm, now known as Bancroft 
park, Worcester, March lo, 1842. His father, with his family, had removed 
from Salem, Massachusetts, in 1840. Charles received his education in the 
public schools, was a pupil of the Thomas street school during the principal- 
ship of the late C. B. Metcalf, and afterwards attended the Worcester 
Academy. He engaged in business with his father, and succeeded him 
upon his decease. 

While Mr. Rugg has never sought office, 
he has several times been called into serv- 
ice by his fellow citizens, and by several 
institutions. He was for two terms a 
member of the Board of Overseers of the 
Poor, and part of the time chairman of 
the Farm Committee. He served one 
term in the Board of Aldermen in 1884 
and 1885, was a member of the Committee 
on Sidewalks and Streets, and chairman of 
that committee the last year of the term. 
The order for the drinking fountains on 
Main and Front streets and at Washington 
square was introduced by him. During 
his official term he was true to his con- 
victions, and voted against all applica- 
tions for license to sell intoxicating liquors. 

For several years Mr. Rugg was presi- 
dent of the Young Men's Christian Association, and has always taken a 
deep interest in the welfare of the young men of the city. 

John M. Russell was born in Oakdale, West Boylston, Massachusetts, 
August 31, 1857. His family can be traced back to Revolutionary times. 
He received his early education in the public schools of his native town, and 
entering the Worcester Polytechnic Institute was graduated in the class of 
1876. At present he is president of the Alumni Association of that institu- 
tion. He came to Worcester in 1882, after having been for several years in 
the office of the L. M: Harris Manufacturing Company and the West Boyl- 
ston Manufacturing Company at Oakdale. From 1882 to 1885 he was head 
bookkeeper for L. J. Knowles & Brother, and in 1885 was one of the incor- 
porators of the Knowles Loom Works, and its cashier until the organi- 
zation of the present Crompton & Knowles Loom Works in 1897, when he 
became the assistant treasurer of that concern, and now holds that office. 
He is connected with several other industrial and financial corporations as 
officer or director, and is actively interested in various charitable and phil- 




CHARLES F. RUGG. 




JOHN M. RUSSELL. 



The Worcester of li 



739 



m" 




RESIDENCE OF JOHN M. RUSSELL, INSTITUTE ROAD, CORNER BEECHMONT. 

anthropic institutions. He is an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Royal 
Arcanimi and several similar bodies. In politics he is a strict Republican, 
and belongs to the Greenhalge, Middlesex, Republican and Home Market 
Clubs, but has never had a desire for political preferment of any kind, and 
has uniformly declined every office that has been tendered him, feeling that 
his active business life demanded the fullest measure of his time, strength 
and mental ability. He has gained the reputation of a shrewd, careful and 
conservative manager and a strictly honorable man. 

Stephen Salisbury,* the second of that name in Worcester, was born March 
8, 1798, and died August 24, 1S84. His father came from Boston in 1767, 
and established in this town a branch of the commercial house of Samuel & 
Stephen Salisbury, and acquired the foundation of the large fortune which 
has descended to the present representative of the family. Stephen, second, 
received his education in the district schools, at Leicester Academy and at 
Harvard College, graduating in the last-named institution in 181 7, in the 
class with George Bancroft, Caleb Cushing, and others of note. He studied 
law with Samuel M. Burnside, but did not engage in the practice of his 
profession, his large financial interests and various public and private 
responsibilities requiring all his attention. He was a selectman of Worces- 
ter in 1839, a member of the first Board of Aldermen of the city, represent- 
ative in 1838 and 1839, State senator in 1846 and 1847, and a presidential 
elector in i860 and 1872. He also served as a director of the Free Public 
Library, and president of that board; as overseer of Harvard College, and 
as trustee and treasurer of the Peabody Museum for many years. He was 

*See portrait on page 364. 



740 The Worcester of 1898. 

a member of several literary bodies, of the American Antiquarian Society 
from 1840, and its president for thirty years previous to his death. He was 
a man of much liberality and breadth of view, unassuming in his manner, 
kindly and charitable towards all, and was universally respected during life, 
and widely lamented at his death. He was a large benefactor of several 
institutions, and a list of his gifts is too long to be included in this brief sketch. 

He was a director of the Worcester Bank for fifty-two years, and its pres- 
ident thirty-nine years. He was also president of the Worcester County 
Institution for Savings twenty-six years; and was connected with numerous 
other financial and railroad corporations. He was the first president of the 
Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science, now the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute. He received the degree of Doctor of Laws from 
Harvard College in 1875. 

Mr. Salisbury married in 1833 Rebekah Scott Dean, who died in 1S43, 
leaving one son, the present Stephen Salisbury. He married, second, in 
1850, Nancy Hoard, widow of Captain George Lincoln, who died in 1852; 
and third, in 1856, Mary Grosvenor, widow of Honorable E. D. Bangs, 
whom he survived. 

Stephen Salisbury,* third, was born in Worcester March 31, 1835. He was 
graduated at Harvard College in 1856, and afterwards traveled extensively 
in Europe and Asia, studying in Berlin and Paris. He received the degree 
of Bachelor of Laws at the Harvard Law School in i860, and was admitted 
to the bar in Worcester the following year. He never entered into the 
active practice of his profession, his large financial interests requiring all 
his attention. 

Mr. Salisbury has contributed largely to the advancement and prosperity 
of Worcester in recent years by his active public spirit and liberality. 
Besides his private enterprises, which have aided the growth of the city at 
the north end, he has made a gift of Institute park, and has improved 
and beautified it at his own expense. His other benefactions to the city 
and to various public institutions are numerous. Although his private 
affairs would naturally claim a large part of his time, he has not shirked 
public duty. He was a member of the Common Council three years, and 
three years represented Worcester in the State Senate. He is president of 
the Worcester National Bank and of the Worcester County Institution for 
Savings, and is connected with numerous other financial institutions and 
business enterprises. He is much interested in educational, literary and 
kindred matters; is president of the Trustees of the Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute, a trustee of Clark University, president of the American Anti- 
quarian Society, and an active member of many other societies. He 
has aided archaeological and scientific investigation in Central America and 
elsewhere. His large gifts of land and money established the Art Museum 
in Worcester. 

Ezra Sawyer was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, July 27, 1815. At the 
age of ten years he removed with his parents to Holden, and soon after went 



* See portrait on page 366. 



The Worcester of li 



741 




EZRA SAWYER. 



to work in a cotton-mill in Unionville in 
that town, where he learned the trade 
thoroughly, and was in charge of the 
looms four years. On account of ill health 
he engaged in the wheelwright business in 
Holden, and continued in it until 1840, 
coming to Worcester the last day of that 
year to work for Benjamin Walker, black- 
smith and wheelwright, on Exchange 
street. He was afterwards employed at 
the Bradley Car Works, and at the Red 
Mill for Howe & Goddard, removing with 
them to Union street, where he made 
some of the patterns for Doctor R. L. 
Hawes's famous envelope-machines. He 
remained with the above firm eleven 
years, having the contract for making 
the wooden parts of paper machinery; and 

was also eleven years with Johnson & Tainter, making the woodwork for 
spinning-jacks. He then, on account of his health, spent three years on a 
farm in Sterling. After his return to Worcester he engaged in pattern- 
making with the Union Water Meter Company, and, with Benaiah Fitts, 
invented the magnetic metal-separator, which machine he now manufac- 
tures, having early purchased Mr. Fitts's interest. He acquired an inter- 
est in the Union Water Meter Company, and has been a director for 
the last six years. 

Mr. Sawyer was one of the corporate members of the Salem Street Con- 
gregational Church, and continued in that connection for forty-six years, and 
was a deacon there six or seven years. He now attends Park Congregational 
Church. He was also one of the corporate members of the City Missionary 
Society. He has been for many years a member of the Worcester County 
Mechanics Association; also a member of the Horticultural Society. He 
was a Free-Soiler, and a voter in 1848, and has always been a Republican. 
He married, first, Eliza, daughter of Captain Francis Winn of Holden, and 
second, Harriet Newell, twin daughter of Sanford M. and Susan Woodcock 
of Leicester. 

An only child, by his first wife, died in infancy. At the age of eighty- 
three Mr. Sawyer is still active in business, and as able, apparently, to attend 
to his affairs as many men of half his age. 

William Henry Sawyer* was born in Bath, New Hampshire, August 8, 
1843. He was educated in the district schools and at Newbury Seminary 
in Vermont. His early life was passed on the farm, and he received that 
rugged training which develops self-reliance and physical power. His 
father was a farmer on a large scale, and owned much lumber-land, on 
which his sons found the practical experience so valuable in later years in 



'See portrait on page gS, 



742 The Worcester of 1898. 

the business which they naturally pursued. On reaching his majority 
William and his brother engaged in lumbering on their own account, and 
built a saw-mill from which to turn out products for quick shipment to the 
cities. After several years of increasing and successful business, Mr. 
Sawyer in 1870 came to Worcester to engage in the retail lumber-trade, 
and entered into partnership with Joseph Chamberlain in a lumber-yard 
on Grove street. A year later, having dissolved his connection with Mr. 
Chamberlain, he opened a yard on Lincoln street at the location now 
occupied by his present extensive establishment. By close attention to 
business he built up a large retail trade. His naturally enterprising nature, 
however, could not be confined within narrow limits, and he, a few years 
later, engaged extensively in wholesale business, establishing in 1877 a 
yard at Tonawanda, New York, a few miles from Buffalo, and in 1880 
another at Bay City, Michigan, dealing largely in Michigan, Wisconsin, 
Canadian and Southern lumber. These adventures proved very fortunate, 
and Mr. Sawyer accumulated a handsome fortune. 

While ]Mr. Sawyer is, strictly speaking, a business man, he has found 
time to give to public service and to the gratification of his tastes for 
books and travel. He was an alderman of Worcester in i888-'89; was a 
member of the Parks Commission from 1890 to 1895; and when the new 
City Hall was projected he was appropriately made chairman of the com- 
mission to direct its construction, a duty which he cheerfully assumed, and 
which he faithfully and ably discharged. 

Mr. Sawyer has traveled extensively in this country and more or less in 
Europe, and by his quick observing powers has gathered a store of inter- 
esting and valuable information. He is a constant reader, and has a deep 
interest in historical and other literature. He has been for many years an 
active member of The Worcester Society of Antiquity, and is now one of its 
vice-presidents. He was a member of the Building Committee, and was a 
liberal contributor to the fund raised to erect the fine edifice occupied by 
that society, the general design of which was largely influenced by his good 
"taste and sound judgment. He is a member of several other societies and 
organizations, was one of the founders of the Hancock Club, and is a 
director of the First National Bank, of the Worcester Board of Trade and 
of the City Missionary Society. He is a Republican in politics, and a 
member of the Congregational Church. 

Mr. Sawyer marrietl. first, in 1S70, Sylvina T. Child of Bath, New 
Hampshire, who died in 1872. He married, second, in 1874, Fanny A. 
Weld, and has four daughters and one son by this marriage. 

He lives in a fine residence which he erected several years ago at the corner 
(if Linciiln and Catharine streets. Mr. Sawyer enjoys an enviable reputa- 
tion for honesty and fair dealing, as well as for readiness to tend a helping- 
hand in all a|)])roved enterprises. His abundant means enable him to 
indulge his natural inclination to liberality in aid of the worthy objects of 
charity so constantly presented. In the furtherance of missionary work he 
is especially interested. But he is not one to make an ostentatious display 
or obtrusive boast of his i);ood deeds. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



743 




JAMES A. SAXE. 



James A. Saxe. Among the yuung law- 
yers who have won a recognized position 
in Worcester is Mr. James A. Saxe. He 
was born in Troy, New York, on the 2d 
of December, 1863. Wesleyan University 
gave him the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
in 1885, Master of Arts in iSSS, and 
Harvard University gave him the degree 
of Bachelor of Arts in 1888 and Bachelor 
of Laws in 1892. In 1891 he was admitted 
to the SuiTolk bar. He began the prac- 
tice of the law in the office of James R. 
Garret, from whom he learned that care 
and method so essential to the success- 
ful conveyancer and title-examiner. In 
1893 the Massachusetts Title Insurance 
Company gave him charge of its exam- 
inations in the Middlesex Registry of 

Deeds. In 1895 he came to Worcester to examine titles for the Metropolitan 
Water Board, and early in his work for the State he decided that Worcester 
county ofifered a good field for a man with Boston training and methods. In 
title examination the great essential is the ready command of an immense 
amount of accurate data. To secure an accurate, elastic, always indexed 
and ever-ready plant, printed blanks, uniform in size, but differing in color 
and printed form, were carefully studied out and copyrighted, and "file 
covers" were specially made which allowed the addition of data at any time 
in any place in the cover, the same being so arranged in relation to the 
plates of the latest Worcester city and county atlases that the act of filing 
was also the act of indexing. 

It is not very interesting to examine the individual title, but to build up 
the city out of the ancient town with its then outlying farms, while the old 
farm lines are kept in sight, and the story of their subdivision read in the 
growth of the sparsely settled district into the crowded centres, is very 
attractive work. 

Mr. Saxe is a member of The Worcester Society of Antiquity, and many 
of its members believe his work will prove also very valuable historically. 

Worcester as an Art Centre. It would be an injustice to the good sense 
of our people to call our city an art centre, or boast of any of her citizens as 
great artists, still the tendency of late years shows a decided advancement, 
and with the aid of our Art Museum, art clubs, art exhibitions and advo- 
cates of art, we shall in a few years be able to rejoice and live in an artistic 
atmosphere. 

That photography is an art, or rather an aid to the fine arts, we think 
there can be no question, for what is said of painting, sculpture, music or 
poetry can also be said with equal truth of photography and photographer's 
work. Simplicity is the guidance to art, and simplicity is the foundation of 
art in ph(}tography. 




HERMAN SCHERVEE. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



745 



It is a curious fact, though not often insisted upon, that the art of pho- 
tography is ruled by the same general laws as govern the art of painting. 
Almost the same teaching, word for word, may be given. Color, light, 
shadow, grouping, perspective, proportion, selection, treatment, are as im- 
portant to be considered in photography as in painting. 

As the mind of man is scarcely limited in scope of thought and invention, 
so will photography have no limits to its advance in realms of art. 

There is a strong force of intellect constantly working to develop this art, 
and photographic ranks are filled with men of aesthetic minds who study to 
present nature in her highest aspect by works infused with poetic thoughts 
and feelings. 

Worcester has done a great deal in promoting art in photography through 
the efforts of Herman Schervee, who stands to-day at the head of New Eng- 
land photographers, and whose works are admired not only throughout this 
country, but in Europe as well, where his exhibitions have won for him a 
name and glory that we are glad to share. His studio is simplicity in itself, 
and his work is stam^jed with his individuality and artistic feeling. Born 
in Tonsberg, Norway, in 1867, after years of study in art schools and 
studios, he appeared in his present studio in the Paine block, where his 
efforts and influence have done a great deal to elevate the artistic feeling of 
his fellow citizens. Mr. Schervee is president of the New England Photo- 
graphic Society, and a prominent advocate and worker for the elevation of 
photography, which is untouched art. We may well rejoice in the thought 
that Worcester can add photography to her laurels. 

Moody Edson Shattuck, founder of the present extensive tobacco-dealing 
and manufacturing business conducted by the M. E. Shattuck Cigar & 
Tobacco Company, was born in Waterville, Vermont, May 9, 1835. His 
ancestors were early settlers of that region, and descendants of William 
vShattuck, the progenitor in America. Lemuel Shattuck, the historian, and 
Doctor George C. Shattuck, the celebrated 
Boston physician, were of the same line 
through another branch. 

Mr. Shattuck's youthful life was passed 
upon the farm, with such educational 
advantages as the country district schools 
afforded. At an early age he started out 
into the world to seek his fortune, and 
began in a small way as a dealer in cigars 
and tobacco, and in this line traveled con- 
siderably. In 1858 he came to Worcester, 
and purchased a cigar-store in the Lincoln 
House block, which he conducted two 
years. He then removed to the present 
Walker building, where the business grew 
to large proportions, and at one time it 
was the largest in New England. Twenty 
years later he removed to the store now moody e. shattuck. 




746 



The Worcester of 1898. 




RESIDENCE OF MRS. HELEN A. SHATTUCK, 768 MAIN STREET. 



occupied b}' the company. In 1886 ^Ir. Shattuck took in partnership J. 
A. Clemence, who was brought up in the business, and John H. Dally ; and 
in 1888 the company was incorporated, with Mr. Shattuck as its president. 

Mr. Shattuck wasa man of the strictest integrity, upright in all his dealings; 
a kind husband, and a firm friend. A regular attendant at Plymouth 
Church, he felt much interest in the work of this prominent religious society, 
and was a liberal contributor to its building fund. He was generous in his 
benefactions, and directly or indirectly assisted many friends and worthy 
objects. 

In politics Mr. Shattuck was an old-school Democrat. He was a member 
of Quinsigamond Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, of Worcester Lodge 
of Odd Fellows, and of the Worcester Continentals. 

He married, January 12, 1863, Helen Augusta Prouty of Brimtield, a 
member of the prominent family of that name in Spencer. Mrs. Shattuck 
is of Revolutionary stock on both sides. Her father, John Prouty, served 
tile tnwn in various capacities, and was elected to the Legislature against 
his own wishes. 

In 1885 Mr. Shattuck, having accumulated a handsome fortune, erected, 
at 768 Main street, the large and fine brick mansion in which his last years 
were spent, and which is now occupied by Mrs. Shattuck. It is one of the 
most elegant residences in that neighborhood, an engraving of which appears 
above. Mr. Shattuck died April 10, 7892. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



747 



Joseph Alden Shaw, A. M.,* head-master of the Highland ^lilitary Academy, 
was born in Athol, Massachusetts, January 4, 1836. He was educated at 
Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 1855, and at Harvard University 
with the class of 1858. For six years he was principal of the academy in 
New Salem, Massachusetts, and a part of that time was secretary of the 
School Committee of that town. In 1867 he first came to Worcester as 
teacher in the Highland Military Academy, and in 1871 he was appointed 
principal of the school. He has been actively connected with this academy 
for twenty-five years. During a period of six years while he was away from 
Worcester, he taught the classics in the Chickering Institute at Cincinnati, 
at the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut at Cheshire, and at the Trinity 
School at TivoIi-on-Hudson. For the past eleven years he has been head- 
master of the Highland Military Academy. 

Mr. Shaw has been for over twenty years a member of the American 
Philological Association; was one of the founders, and for several years a 
director, of the Hancock Club; and is a member, and for the past ten years 
has been a vestryman, of St. John's Episcopal Church in this city. 

Mr. Shaw is naturally and by education qualified to instruct and govern 
boys; and his skill and tact have aided in making the Highland Military 
Academy one of the best schools in the country. 

Elliott T. Smith, son of Lewis and Maria (Rice) Smith, was born at 
Rockland, Maine, July 13, 1833. His parents were natives of Rhode Island, 




RESIDENCE OF ELLIOTT T. SMITH, 839 MAIN STREET. 

*See portrait on page 187. 




ELLIOTT T. SMITH. 



The Worcester of 1898. 749 

and his father was engaged in the manufacture of lime in that state and 
went to Maine to pursue the same calling, and in 1849 removed to Worcester 
with his wife and family of eight children, residing in this city until his 
death, and was well known for many years as a lime-dealer. 

Elliott T. received his education in the district schools of his native town, 
and, arriving in Worcester on his sixteenth birthday, entered the employ of 
the Western Railroad, in the freight department principally, and remained 
in that situation three years. He then engaged with Hitchcock & Muzzy, 
manufacturers of fire-arms, in the Merrifield buildings, and was employed 
in the boring and straightening of gun-barrels until 1857. The winter of 
i8s7-'s8 he passed in New Orleans in the lightning-rod business. In 1858 he 
started the retail grocery business in a small way in the building at the 
corner of Shrewsbury and Mulberry streets, which was occupied by his 
father as a storehouse for lime, and in this locality or near it he has continued 
to the present time. The business has constantly increased until it has 
reached its present large proportions. In 1868 he began in the jobbing and 
wholesale line, and two years later relinquished the retail part of the trade 
entirely. In 1870 Mr. Charles A. Bigelow was admitted a partner, and after 
his death in April, 1885, a partnership was formed with Charles F. Bigelow, 
Frank A. Smith, Charles A. King and Charles H. Robinson, the latter 
withdrawing in 1885. The present E. T. Smith Company was incorporated 
in 1896, with Mr. Smith as president. The large block in Washington 
square erected by Mr. Smith in 1874, and now occupied by Smith-Green 
Company, was relinquished in 1893, when the company removed to its 
present quarters on Summer street. 

Mr. Smith is an enthusiastic sportsman and a member of the Worcester 
Sportsmen's Club. He is a member of the Worcester Board of Trade, and 
is connected with the Free Masons and the Knights Templars. Mr. Smith 
married in i860 Elizabeth C. Campbell of Worcester, and their only son, 
Frank A., born April i, 1864, is now an active member of the E. T. Smith 
Company, and the buyer for the concern. 

Jesse Smith, at the time of his sudden death November 18, 1897, presi- 
dent of the Smith-Green Company, dealing largely in groceries, lime and 
cement in Washington square, was born in Rockland, Maine, March 27, 
1836, a son of Lewis and Maria (Rice) Smith. His education was obtained 
in the schools of his native place, and in those of this city after he came 
here with his father's family in 1849. In 1851 he entered the employ of 
Thayer & Fames, clothing-dealers at the corner of Front and Main streets, 
in the same store now occupied by the D. H. Eames Company, and re- 
mained in that situation nine years. From 1861 to 1866 he was engaged 
in the clothing business on his own account in Lewiston, Maine, and 
returned to Worcester the last-named year and became a partner with his 
brother, Elliott T., in the retail grocery trade on Shrewsbury street, and in 
this connection continued several years. When his brother relinquished 
the retail business and established the large wholesale establishment now 
conducted by the E. T. Smith Company, Jesse Smith, in company with 
the late Henry A. Green, continued the retail department under the firm 



^ 




JESSE SMITH. 



The Worcester of if 



751 




RESIDENCE OF MRS. JANE SMITH, 21 OREAD STREET. 



name of Smith & Green, which became after the death of Mr. Green the 
present Smith-Green Company, incorporated in 1893, with Jesse Smith as 
president. The undertaking proved very successful, and the establishment 
is now one of the largest in the retail grocery trade in this region, in addi- 
tion to which an extensive trade in lime and cement is also carried on. 

"Sir. Smith was a Knight Templar, a 32° Mason, and treasurer of the 
Worcester Masonic Charity and Educational Association. He was a member 
of the Commonwealth Club, Tatassit Canoe Club, and of the Worcester 
Board of Trade. He married, February 17, 1859, Miss Jane Hopcraft, a 
native of England. Of their children, one daughter, the wife of R. C. 
Cleveland, now president of the Smith-Green Company, is living. 

William Addison Smith, one of Worcester's best-known and justly 
esteemed citizens, was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, March 2, 1824. 
His father, John A. Smith, was a prominent citizen and manufacturer of 
that town. Through his mother, Sarah Sargent, he is descended in the 
seventh generation from William Sargent, who came from England to 
jNIalden, Massachusetts, in 1638, and was the progenitor of the well-known 
and numerous family of that name through John," Nathan,^ Jonathan,'' 
John,° Sarah. "^ 

William A. Smith was educated at Leicester Academy, Derby Academy in 
Hingham, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1843 in the class with 
Charles A. Dana, O. B. Frothingham, Thomas Hill. John Lowell, William 
A. Richardson and Horace Binney Sargent. He studied law with Emory 
Washburn and Francis H. Dewey, and practised with the latter until 1848, 



752 



The Worcester of 1898. 



when he took a position in the office o£ the clerk of the courts for Worcester 
county, and served as c]erk pro tcm. until 1850, when the office of assistant 
clerk having been created, he was appointed to that place by the Supreme 
Court and served by successive appointments until 1865, when he went 
abroad for his health, and on his return resigned the office. From 
1866 to 1869 he was engaged in manufacturing. In May of the last-named 
year he became agent for the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Com- 
pany, and in 1870 he was elected clerk and treasurer of the Worcester 
County ^Mechanics Association, in which office he still continues. 

ilr. Smith was clerk of the first Common Council of Worcester in 1848, 
and at this present writing is the sole survivor of the first City Govern- 
ment. He served as clerk of the 
Common Council thirteen years in 
all, finally retiring in 1861. He 
was for eight years a director of 
the Free Public Library from the 
time that institution was opened, 
and during a part of this period 
secretary of the board. He also 
served on the School Committee 
in 1S76. For many years he was 
a justice of the peace, and is a 
commissioner to fix and take bail 
in criminal cases and to qualify 
civil officers. He is a man of 
marked literary tastes, and is a 
member of the American Anti- 
quarian Society and The Worces- 
ter vSociety of Antiquity. With 
the Masonic order he has been 
prominently connected for nearly 
half a century ; was the first master 
of Montacute Lodge ; district dep- 
uty grand master, eleventh district, 1874; R. P. G. M., Grand Council of 
Royal and Select Masters of Massachusetts, 1867; grand junior warden 
and grand senior warden of the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island; and was once elected eminent commander of Worcester 
County Commandery, Knights Templars, but declined installation. He 
was for several years the only 11° Mason in Worcester, and is now the 
eldest of three in this city who have reached that honor. 

Mr. Smith married, April 18, 1849, Eliza Adeline Howe of Worcester, 
and of this union five children were born, two of whom survive. 

Augustus Brown Reed Sprague* was born in Ware, Massachusetts, March 7, 
1827, son of Lee and Lucia (Snow) Sprague. His ancestors on both sides 
were of Puritan stock, his maternal grandmother, Alice Alden, being in the 




WILLIAM A. SMITH. 



^See portrait on page 72. 



The Worcester of 1898. 753 

sixth generation in direct line from John Alden who came over in the 
JIayflower. The subject of this sketch received his education in public 
and private schools. In 1842 he came to Worcester and entered the employ 
of H. B. Claflin, afterward the famous New York merchant. Later he was 
for a time with H. H. Chamberlin, who founded the present establishment 
of Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Company. He afterward engaged in mer- 
cantile business for himself, and as a partner with his father in the firm of 
Lee Sprague & Co. 

He reached his majority and cast his first vote in 1S48. He joined the 
Worcester Guards at the age of seventeen, and served as private, non-com- 
missioned and commissioned officer, beginning a military career that made 
him of service to his country in her greatest need. 

He was adjutant of the Eighth Regiment, and brigade-major and inspector 
of the Fifth Brigade, AI. \'. AL, holding the latter office at the outbreak of 
the war. . At the first call for troops he was unanimously elected captain of 
the Worcester City Guards, Company A, Third Battalion of Rifles, M. V. M., 
under Major Charles Devens, and served from April 19th to August 3d, 
1861, during the last month as commander of the battalion. Major Devens 
having resigned to become colonel of the Fifteenth Massachusetts Volunteers. 

In September, 1861, Captain Sprague was active in the organization of 
the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers and was commissioned lieutenant- 
colonel, and participated with his command in the famous Burnside Expedi- 
tion, and served until November 11, 1862, in its battles and skirmishes, and 
was officially reported for "bravery and efficiency" in the engagements at 
Roanoke Island and New Berne. 

In November, 1862, he was promoted to be colonel of the Fifty-first 
Massachusetts Regiment, and was assigned to the Eighteenth Army Corps, 
serving in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. 

After the expiration of its term of service, in consideration of the great 
public peril attending the invasion of Pennsylvania by the army of northern 
Virginia, Colonel Sprague offered his regiment for further service, which 
was accepted and ordered to Baltimore, thence to Maryland Heights, join- 
ing the Army of the Potomac, and only returned to Massachusetts when 
Lee was rapidly retreating in Virginia. 

February i, 1864, he reentered the service as lieutenant-colonel of the Second 
^Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and later became its colonel. He served 
with it in North Carolina and southern Virginia, commanding the regiment 
in its field service, moving with General Schofield to open communication 
with General Sherman at Goldsboro, North Carolina. 

Colonel Sprague was finally mustered out September 20, 1865, after nearly 
four years of service, and was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, to 
date from March 13, 1865, "for gallant and meritorious services during the 
war." In January, 1S67, General Sprague was appointed city marshal of 
Worcester by Mayor Blake. In June of that year he resigned, having been 
appointed collector of internal revenue for the Eighth Massachusetts District. 
During the five years of his incumbency $3,980,000 passed through his 
hands. 



754 The Worcester of 1898. 

On the death of Honorable J. vS. C. Knowlton, sheriff of the county of 
Worcester, General Sprague was appointed his successor July 187 1, and 
afterward was elected for six successive terms of three years each, to Jan- 
uary, 1890, holding the office longer than any of his predecessors excepting 
Sheriffs Ward and Willard. 

Soon after taking the office, the Worcester prison was rebuilt, and greatly 
enlarged to accommodate the increasing demands. After its completion, 
the sheriff took personal supervision, and began that work which he and his 
friends justly regard as a public benefit and a distinguished advance in the 
improvement of modern prisons. The whole system of accounts was revised 
as well as the diet table in both this institution and the one in Fitchburg, 
over which the sheriff has entire control. He did away with the shaving of 
heads and the wearing of parti-colored garments, believing them unneces- 
sary indignities imposed upon short-term prisoners. Food of better quality, 
in greater variety and at a less cost was furnished and prepared according 
to the best hygienic principles of cooking. Better clothing and bedding 
were added, and later the library was greatly increased by many new and 
carefully selected books. This work is due to the untiring efforts of General 
Sprague, who for years devoted himself to the searching out of the latest and 
best improvements in the prisons of this and of other states. That this work 
was appreciated by the Commissioners of Prisons may be seen in their 
yearly reports, where they call the Worcester county prisons the model 
prisons of the Commonwealth. While holding this office, he was urged by 
Governor Long to accept the wardenship of the State prison. 

General Sprague was commander of the Department of Massachusetts, 
Grand Army of the Republic, in 1868; was junior vice-commander of the 
Massachusetts Commandery of the military order of the Loyal Legion of the 
United States the same year, and in i873-'74 was quartermaster general of 
the Grand Army of the Republic by the appointment of General Charles 
Devens commander-in-chief. A. B. R. Sprague Post 24, G. A. R. , of 
Grafton was named in his honor. 

He is vice-president of the Mechanics vSavings Bank, and has been a 
director in the Worcester Electric Light Company from its organization. 

For several years he has been treasurer of the Putnam & Sprague Com- 
pany, a long-established furniture-house. 

General Sprague has served in both branches of the City Government. 
In December, 1895, he was elected mayor of Worcester, and reelected the 
following year, serving from January, 1S96, to January, 1898. 

The new City Hall was erected and many other important public works 
were either begun or finished during his administration, and are detailed 
in another portion of this volume. 

General Sprague was twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth J. 
Rice, who died in February, 18S9. Of the five children of this union one 
son, Fred Foster, survives. In October, 1890, he married M. Jennie 
Barbour, assistant librarian of the Free Public Library of Worcester, and 
a daughter, Alice Alden. is Iheir only child. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



755 




Hamilton Barclay Staples was born in 
Mendon, Massachusetts, February 14, 1829. 
He was descended in direct line from Abra- 
ham Staples, the progenitor of the family 
in this country. The father of Hamilton 
was a farmer of moderate circumstances, 
and the boy passed his youthful years in 
light work on the homestead and attend- 
ing the district school in the winter. As 
a lad he evinced a great love for books 
and inclination towards learning, which 
caused his parents to gratify his desire 
for a liberal education. He fitted for col- 
lege at the Worcester Academy, and 
entering Brown University was graduated 
next to the head of his class, which was 
that of 1851. He delivered the salutatory h^Mili.': ^ ^es. 

at the graduation. Selecting the law as 

his profession, he studied in the office of Chief Justice Ames in Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island, and with Peter C. Bacon of Worcester. Mr. Sta- 
ples was admitted to the bar in 1854, and at once began practice in 
Milford, where he remained fifteen years. In Milford he at once became 
prominent, and was frequently called upon to act as toastmaster and 
orator on famous occasions as well as to prepare eulogies of distin- 
guished citizens. In 1869 he removed to Worcester, and entered into 
partnership with Frank P. Goulding, a connection which proved notable. 
In 1873 Mr. Staples was elected district attorney for the Middle District, 
and discharged the duties of this office with marked fidelity and ability 
for eight consecutive years, something very unusual. He was for one 
term a member of the Common Council, and also a trustee of the 
City Hospital. In 1881 he was appointed an associate justice of the 
Superior Court to succeed the late Honorable Francis H. Dewey, who 
then retired, and he brought to this station the fruit of his ripe experience 
at the bar, a natural insight and a calm and impartial bearing, which 
well fitted him for the dignity of the place. He continued on the bench 
ten years, or until his death. 

Judge Staples was elected a member of the American Antiquarian 
Society in 1878, and he contributed several valuable papers to its proceed- 
ings. He had a natural taste for the investigation of certain lines of 
history, to which he resorted as a relaxation from the exacting demands of 
his profession. He was several times called upon to deliver lectures for 
the benefit of good causes, and was always willing to assist worthy 
charities. 

Two visits to Europe enabled him to gratify to some extent his desire 
for more knowledge of the greatest and best works in literature and art. 
In recognition of his services and abilities, his alma mater in 1884 conferred 
upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. 




WILLIAM E. STARR. 



THE Worcester of 1898. 757 

Judge Staples was twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth A. 
Godfrey of Mendon. She died in 1S67. In 1868 he married Mary Clinton 
Dewey, daughter of the late Judge Charles A. Dewey of Northampton, 
who was for nearly thirty years judge of the Supreme Judicial Court of 
the State. Judge Staples died on the 2nd of August, 1891. His widow 
and an only son, Francis Hamilton Staples, survive him. The latter is 
secretary of the Charles Baker Company. One son, Charles Dewey, died 
in infancy. 

William Eli Starr was born in Thompson, Connecticut, March 1,1812. He 
is a descendant in the seventh generation from Doctor Comfort Starr, the 
immigrant who came from Ashford, in England, to Xewton, now Cambridge, 
in Massachusetts, in 1635, through John", Comfort^, Comfort\ Ebenezer", 
Darius''. Doctor Comfort Starr removed to Duxbury and later to Boston, 
where he died in 1660. He ministered as a physician in all these places. 
He was accompanied to New England by three sons, John, Thomas and 
Comfort; and a deed which the first named gave of the Duxbury property, 
and which was witnessed by Miles Standish, is preserved in Pilgrim Hall in 
Plymouth. 

Darius Starr married Sally, daughter of Jonathan Wilson, and of a family 
of seven children; the subject of this sketch was the fourth. 

William E. Starr attended the district school in that part of Thompson 
which is now Putnam, Connecticut, and was also a student at Monson 
Academy for a term and a half, but his education was principally received 
at home under the immediate direction of his parents, who were compara- 
tively well educated. William early evinced a fondness for books, and 
manifested a strong predilection for mathematics, in which he attained 
great proficiency, and the study of which he has assiduously pursued through 
life. These tendencies naturally influenced him to become a teacher, and 
he entered into that occupation in his eighteenth year, his first school being 
in that part of the town of Dudley which is now Webster. During the next 
seventeen years he was engaged in different occupations in different places, 
a portion of the time in teaching, but not regularly, and on the ist of 
September, 1846, he took charge of the English department in the Classical 
and English high school at Worcester, where he remained until the close of 
the year 1856, maintaining a high reputation as a teacher of the exact 
sciences. For four years succeeding he was superintendent of the State 
Reform School for Boys at Westborough. In 1861 he returned to Worcester 
and served one year as city marshal by appointment of ilayor Aldrich. He 
was president of the Common Council in i865-'66. From 1863 to 1869 he was 
assistant assessor of. internal revenue in the office of Colonel Ivers Phillips, 
the assessor for this district. In 1869 he was elected treasurer and clerk of 
the Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad, and remained in that position until 
the road was sold to the Fitchburg Railroad Company in 1885. 

Mr. Starr served more or less as actuary — which specifically in this country 
is the technical expert — of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company from 
1848 to 1870, and from that year to the present has been regularly elected, 
being the only person who ever held the office of actuary in the company. 




CHARLES F. STEVENS. 



The Worcester of i^ 



759 



The exacting and increasing duties of this position have demanded his full 
attention during his later years, but time has touched him gently, and he still 
discharges his responsibilities with his characteristic skill, faithfulness and 
vigor. Mr. Starr is a director of the State Mutual Life Assurance 
Company, having held that position since 1875. He is also a charter member 
and the oldest member of the Actuarial Society of America. He is the 
oldest actuary now in service in America if not in the world. 

Mr. Starr married, in 1837, Pamelia Porter, daughter of Daniel and Polly 
(Barton) Batcheller of Western, now Warren. She was a sister of the late 
Mrs. Peter C. Bacon, and a cousin of Clara Barton. Of this union three 
sons were born : William, now living in New Orleans; Darius, who enlisted 
from Dartmouth College in the Second United States Sharpshooters, and 
died a prisoner in Andersonville September 2, 1864; and Daniel Batcheller, 
who resides in Worcester, unmarried. Mrs. Starr died May 7, 1886. 

Mr. Starr is a man of kindly yet dignified presence, normal mental poise, 
and firm physique. Although he has passed his eighty-sixth birthday, he 
bears few marks of age, and those who have known him during the past 
quarter of a century have observed few changes in his appearance. The 
universal esteem of the community in which he has so long been a familiar 
figure is a recognition of his especial talent and the just reward of an upright 
and well-spent life. 

Charles Franklin Stevens was born in Worcester August i6, 1855. His 
early education was received in the public schools and at Howes' Business 
College. He next studied under private tutors and then took a course at 
the Harvard University Law School, from which he was graduated in 1876 
with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He returned to the law school in the 
fall and remained through the school year, taking a post graduate course. 

At the December term of the Superior Court, 1877, Mr. Stevens was 
admitted to practice in the courts of Massachusetts. The same year he 
received an appointment as justice of the peace from Governor Alexander 
H. Rice, and during the administration of Governor George D. Robinson 
he was first commissioned as a notary public. He has always followed his 
chosen profession, and has been in active practice for upwards of twenty 
years. During the first five years he was associated with Honorable Henry 
L. Parker. On the 3rd of December, 1884, he was admitted to practice in 
the United States courts. 

Mr. Stevens is a straight Republican, and has always taken an interest in 
the success of the party. He served Ward 7 in the Common Council for 
the years 1889 and 1890. His residence is at 96 Woodland street, and it is 
one of the pleasantest homes in the city. 

He has this year built a very fine block next to Trinity Church on Main 
street. A picture of it appears on page 432. It is a white marble front 
and six stories high. There are four stores on the first floor and one 
hundred rooms above, including a large dining-room, intended for a private 
caii. It is one of the finest apartment blocks in the city, being finished 
throughout in ash, with marble stairs and wainscoting. It is supplied 
with incandescent lights, electric bells, speaking-tubes, steam heating, 



760 



The Worcester of i8g8. 




RESIDENCE OF CHARLES F. STEVENS, 96 WOODLAND STREET. 



passenger and freight elevators, and all the modern appliances and con- 
veniences. 

Mr. Stevens is a son of Charles P. Stevens, who with his brother was 
engaged for many years in the sash, door and blind business; the firm was 
D. & C. P. Stevens. He was married, June 29, 1880, to Miss Mary Brad- 
ford Gooding, daughter of Josephus Gooding of Bristol, Rhode Island. 

George Sumner,* the youngest son of Erastus and Lavinia (Boyd) Sumner, 
was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, on the 25th of July, 1824. He 
was a lineal descendant in the sixth generation from William Sumner, the 
first representative of the family in this country who came to Dorchester 
from England in 1635. From the same ancestor through a different line 
descended Charles Sumner, the distinguished Massachusetts senator. The 
grandfather of George, the Reverend Joseph Sumner, D. D., was an 
eminent divine, settled as minister of Shrewsbury from 1762 to his death 
in 1824. 

The subject of this sketch received his education in the district schools 
of his native town, and at the age of sixteen became a clerk in the store of 
Bigelow & Goodnow, and afterwards entered into employment at the 
establishment of Henry W. Baldwin. These were old-time trading-places 
in Shrewsbury, and he received such training during his two years' experi- 
ence as fitted him to enter a broader field. In 1842 he came to Worcester, 
and was engaged by Henry H. Chamberlin, then the largest dry-goods 
dealer in the town, and now well known as the founder of the extensive 



* See portrait on page 41; 



The Worcester of li 



761 



business with which Mr. Sumner was so long and prominenth' connected. 
In this connection he made his services so valuable that when he became 
of age he was received as a partner in the concern, under the firm name of 
Chamberlin, Barnard & Co. On the retirement of Mr. Chamberlin the 
long-familiar title of Barnard, Sumner & Co. succeeded, to be followed in 
later years by the Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Company. These successive 
changes in designation only marked periods of increasing expansion of the 
business, and j\Ir. Sumner's influence in developing its proportions into the 
largest dry-goods house in central Massachusetts was freely acknowledged 
by his associates, and his business ability universally admitted among those 
connected with the trade. To the realization of all this he devoted years 
of untiring work. Mr. Sumner maintained his connection with the com- 
pany to the end of his life, and his son, Edward P., is still an active partner 
in the business. 

Devoting himself closely to the interests of the enterprise in which he 
was concerned, Mr. Sumner found little time to give to outside matters, 
and he felt no inclination to mingle in politics. He had a natural taste for 
books and antiquarian matters, and in this and the enjoyment of his home 
life at his city residence and at Shrewsbury on his ancestral estate, he 
found almost his only relaxation. He was an active member and for 
several years a vice-president of The Worcester Society of Antiquity, and 
manifested great interest in the welfare of that association. He was a 
director in the Worcester Safe Deposit & Trust Company, and a vice-presi- 
dent of the Five Cents Savings Bank, and was connected with various 
other organizations. A Unitarian in sentiment, he was long a member of 
the Church of the Unity. He was a man of kindly nature, cordial manner, 
and generous disposition. After a period of declining health he died on 
the 5th of January, 1893. 

Mr. Sumner married, in 1S54, Sarah E., daughter of Charles and Mary 
Richardson of Manchester, New Hampshire. Four children, George Rich- 
ardson, Mary Locke, Edward Prentiss 
and Caroline Allen, were born of this 
union, all of whom survive. 

Jesse Partelow Taber was born in Up- 
ham. New Brunswick, April 15, 1850. He 
was brought up on a farm, and received 
a common school education. His grand- 
father settled in that place many years 
before, coming from Newport, Rhode 
Island. He was a descendant of Philip 
Taber, who came to Massachusetts in 
1634, and whose son married a daughter 
of John Cook, the last survivor of the 
Mayflower. Mr. Taber came to Worces- 
ter in 1871, and entered the employ of 
Charles Fuller, distinguished as a church- 
builder. In 1880 he engaged in business jesse p. taber. 





R. JAMES TATMAN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



763 



for himself, and largely developed real estate in buying land and erecting 
houses, and has done more to improve and build up Ward i than any other 
man, excepting Honorable Stephen Salisbury. He resides in a fine and 
attractive home at 198 Park avenue, and his office is at his house. 

He is a Republican in politics, and has been a member of the City 
Committee several years. In 1896 he served in the City Council. He is a 
Knight of Pythias and a Knight of Malta. In religion he is a Methodist, 
has been one of the official board of Grace Church for many years, and is 
now one of the trustees. 

Mr. Taber married in September, 1874, Miss Nellie A. Willoughby of Hollis, 
New Hampshire, a descendant of one of the first settlers of that town. 
They have two daughters: Bessie M., twenty-one years old, and Florence 
N., seventeen, both living at home. 

Charles Taylor Tatman, son of R. James 
and Susan M. (Taylor) Tatman, was born 
in Worcester December 16, 1871. He was 
educated in the public schools, was grad- 
uated from the Worcester high school in 
1889 as president of his class; attended the 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute two years, 
then took the full three years' course at 
the Harvard Law School, receiving the 
degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1894, and 
was admitted to the bar the same year. 
He has practised in all the State courts 
and in the district and circuit courts 
of the L^nited States, and has rapidly risen 
in his profession. He has been active in 
Republican politics, and was chairman of 
the Republican City Committee in 1898. 
In November, 1898, he was elected a repre- 
sentative in the General Court from Ward 8, to serve during the term of 1899. 

Mr. Tatman is a prominent member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a college 
fraternity, and is now a committee of one to revise the ritual. He has taken 
all the degrees of the York Rite, and to the 32d of the Scottish Rite in 
Masonry. He is a member of the .Sons of the American Revolution, and of 
The Worcester Society of Antiquity. He served three years in the 
Massachusetts Volunteer Militia in the Wellington Rifles. He is much 
interested in the study of numismatics, has written several monographs, 
and possesses a valuable collection of coins. In recognition of his contri- 
butions to this science, he has been made a member of the American 
Numismatic and Archaeological Society. 

R. James Tatman. The first Tatman in America was a Puritan, who came 
from England in 1632 and settled in Ro.xbury, where his descendants dwelt 
for a century. In 1737 one of them came to Worcester and settled on the 
farm which has remained in the familv name ever since. A son of the first 




CHARLES T. TATMAN. 



764 The Worcester of 1898. 

Tatman in Worcester married Sally, the daughter of Daniel Gookin, who 
was the first high sheriff of Worcester county. The sheriff was grandson of 
Daniel Gookin, one of the three original proprietors of Worcester, whose father 
had been the leader of a colony in Virginia. From this branch of the family 
the subject of this sketch is descended. 

R. James Tatman was born at the old family homestead on Greenwood 
street, Quinsigamond Village, February 29, 1836. His father was Reuben 
Tatman, a prosperous farmer, a man highly respected in the community, 
and a member of the School Committee. R. James Tatman was brought 
up on the farm. He received a public school education, and attended 
Eaton's Commercial College. In 1857 he was a wire-drawer in the wire 
works of Charles Washburn & Son, which have since developed into the 
Quinsigamond works of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company. 
At the age of twenty-two he went to Boston, and for four years was a clerk 
in the freight office of the Boston & Worcester Railroad Company. Next he 
returned to Worcester and became bookkeeper for Charles Washburn & Son. 

At the age of twenty-eight he married Susan M. Taylor, daughter of 
Charles Taylor of Northbridge. Mr. Tatman was then employed at Taunton 
by Ransom C. Taylor for nearly two years, and for a like period at Pough- 
keepsie. New York. He then returned to Worcester, bought an interest in 
the store of Burbank Brothers, and under the name of Burbank, Tatman & 
Co. carried on a wholesale trade in fruit and produce at No. i Allen court 
for ten years. 

In 1877 he served as assessor of ta.xes for the cit)' of Worcester. At the 
end of that year Mr. Tatman was elected secretary of the First National 
Fire Insurance Company of Worcester, of which Honorable Charles B. Pratt was 
president. After ten years' service as secretary Mr. Tatman was made vice- 
president and treasurer of the company, which position he has held ever 
since. He is now senior partner in the firm of Tatman & Park, general 
insurance agents, carrying on business in the office of the First National 
Fire Insurance Company. 

In 1882 and 1883 Mr. Tatman served as alderman from Ward 8, being 
elected on the Citizens' ticket. He served on several of the most prominent 
committees, including that on finance. At the end of his term he was 
tendered a renomination by both parties, but declined to be a candidate. 
He has been prominently mentioned for many years as Republican candidate 
for mayor, but has always refused to allow consideration of his name. He 
is regarded as one of the most highly respected citizens, and is a powerful 
factor in municipal politics. 

Air. Tatman has been very prominent in Masonic circles. He isa member 
of all bodies of the York Rite and of the Scottish Rite to the 32 '. He has 
been worshipful master of Montacute Lodge and eminent commander of 
Worcester County Commandery. He is now, and has been for fifteen years, 
treasurer of the commandery ; is also treasurer of Lawrence Chapter of Rose 
Croix. He is a member of the Board of Trusteesof the Masonic Fraternity, 
and for nine years was a trustee of the Worcester County Mechanics 
Association. 



The Worcester of 1898. 765 

He has two children, Mary Elizabeth, wife of Wright S. Prior, street 
commissioner of the city of Worcester, and Charles Taylor Tatman, a 
promising young lawyer. 

Ransom Clarke Taylor, son of Charles and Stisan (Butler) Taylor, was 
born in Winchester, New Hampshire, February 24, 1829. His parents 
removed during his early childhood to Northbridge, Massachusetts, and at 
the age of twelve he assisted his father, who was engaged in the retail meat 
trade, by driving the delivery wagon about the town. Five years later he 
went to Worcester to take charge for his father of a factory and business for 
the manufacture and sale of various meat products, and at the age of 
eighteen, having bought his time for $300, which sum he engaged to pay his 
father on attaining his majority, he entered into business on his own account 
in the town of Sutton. Here he remained four years with increasing 
success, and then returned to Worcester, where he continued in the manu- 
facture of meat products, the enterprise assuming such proportions that 
within a few years he established branches in New York, Albany, Troy, 
Hartford, New Haven, Springfield, Taunton, and other places. He employed 
a large number of men, and his business became one of the most important 
of its kind in New England. 

Mr. Taylor has had, from the time that he became a permanent resident of 
the city, a strong faith in the prospective and continual growth of Worcester, 
which he has evinced by extensive investments in real estate, until he is now 
the largest individual owner and the heaviest tax-payer in this community. 
He has erected a large number of business and industrial buildings in and 
around the centre of the city, principally on Main and Front streets, and 
now owns more than one-half the structures on the last-named thoroughfare. 
He built the first five-story, the first six-story, and the first seven-story 
blocks in Worcester, and has always kept in advance of the growth of the 
city, influencing advancement by providing the requisite accommodations 
for the expansion of business before the necessity was apparent to the average 
observer. This prophetic sagacity has worked greatly to his own material 
advantage, as it has to the advantage of the city at large. To all proposi- 
tions for public improvements Mr. Taylor gives his firm support, as he 
believes that collective and individual interests are inseparable. His clear 
insight, sound judgment and exceptional ability in the management of 
financial transactions are continually manifested and universally recognized. 
He has been connected with the First National Bank of Worcester for many 
years, and is interested in other moneyed institutions in the city. 

Mr. Taylor has been an alderman, and was once a candidate of the 
Democratic party for councilor, but his extensive property interests have 
prevented him from devoting much time to politics. He is a lover of horses, 
and the owner of several equine specimens of choice pedigrees, the exercising 
of which gives him much pleasure. He is a man of powerful physique and 
strong powers of endurance, which enable him to undertake and perform 
labor and responsibility what few men are equal to. 

Mr. Taylor has been twice married; first, to Mary Louise Chase of Sutton, 
and in whose memory is named the largest of the buildings erected by him; 




RANSOM C. TAYLOR. 



The Worcester of 1898. 767 

and, second, to Mary S. Stevens of Newton. He is the father of three sons 
and three daughters. He lives at the south end of the city in a fine mansion 
of colonial style, which is one of the most beautiful residences in that section. 

Edward Carrington Thayer.* Joseph Thayer, the father of Edward C. 
Thayer, the recent donor to the city of Worcester of the magnificent 
building for the Memorial Home for Nurses, which is now a part of the 
equipment of the City Hospital, was prominent in central Massachusetts 
fifty or more years ago by his connection with railroad and other public 
interests. He was a graduate of Brown University, a lawyer of repute, 
and was several times a member of the State Legislature, and served his 
fellow citizens in other capacities. He married Chloe, daughter of Hon- 
orable Bezaleel Taft, and settled in Uxbridge, where the subject of this 
sketch was born. May 10, 1830. 

Edward C. Thayer received his education in the public schools of his native 
town, in the academy there, at Leicester Academy, and at Day's boarding- 
school in Lanesborough. In 1847 he became a clerk in the office of Welcome 
Farnum, a prominent manufacturer in Waterford, Massachusetts, where he 
remained five years. He then returned to Uxbridge to assist his father, who 
was in ill health, and for several years was engaged in manufacturing enter- 
prises in Worcester and Millbury. In 187 1 he leased the Ashuelot Mill at 
Ashuelot, New Hampshire, and two years later with other parties pur- 
chased that and the Turner Mill near by, and engaged extensively in 
the manufacture of overcoatings and cloakings. Later he became the sole 
owner of the property, and increased the business until it gave employment 
to 350 people. 

Soon after his removal to New Hampshire, Mr. Thayer became a resident 
of Keene, where he took a prominent part in public and business affairs. 
He served in both branches of the City Government, and his large financial 
interests gave him an influential position in the place. He was president 
of the Winchester National Bank, a director of the Fitchburg Railroad, and 
was actively interested in other railroads, commercial, manufacturing and 
financial corporations throughout New England. 

But it was as a public benefactor that Mr. Thayer will be permanently 
recognized. In his native town of Uxbridge he erected under his own 
supervision a very handsome library building, in memory of his father and 
mother, and presented it to the town, with a fund the income of which is 
to be used for the purchase of books. The present year he gave to his 
adopted city of Keene a fine and commodious establishment for a public 
library, and endowed a scholarship at Brown L^niversity in memory of his 
father. These free-handed evidences of generosity and public spirit will 
give him a place in the memory of those who will receive the benefit of his 
acts in all coming time. 

In the early part of the year 1897 the Trustees of the Worcester City 
Hospital received from Mr. Thayer a wholly unexpected but most welcome 
intimation of his desire to supply such a home for the nurses as the board 



'See portrait on page 250. 



768 The Worcester of 1898. 

might approve, and later the mayor and City Council received from him a 
letter, in which, after expressing his wish to erect some monument in 
Worcester to the memory of his sisters, ]\Irs. Sarah Thayer Chapin and 
Mrs. Louisa Thayer Chapin, he modestly suggested that if the city would 
grant him the right to use and occupy so much of the city's land opposite 
the hospital buildings as might be required, he would deem it a great 
privilege to erect and furnish a suitable home for nurses at an expense of 
not less than $35,000, and to present it when completed to the city as a 
memorial to his two sisters. This generous offer was accepted, and the 
completed structure, perfect in all its appointments, and which had largely 
exceeded in cost the sum above mentioned, was appropriately dedicated and 
passed into the possession of the proper authorities on the 15th day of June, 
1898. By this circumstance the name of the giver is enrolled with those 
who have so munificently endowed the City Hospital of Worcester. 

Mr. Thayer married in Winchester, New Hampshire, in 1873, Julia Beatrice, 
daughter of David and Fanny (Capron) Ball. They occupied a fine estate 
in Keene, and also owned a home in U.xbridge, Massachusetts, where a 
portion of the year was passed. In religion Mr. Thayer was a Unitarian, 
yet his views were broad and liberal towards other denominations. He was 
true to his convictions, and fearless in their expression. He was justly 
esteemed for his ability, good judgment, generosity and unquestioned 
integrity. 

Mr. Thayer died suddenly at Keene, New Hampshire, on July 3d, iSgS. 

Eli Thayer. Eli Thayer was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, June 1 1 , 
1819. He is a descendant in the seventh generation in this country through 
Thomas Thayer,' Ferdinando," Benjamin," Aaron,'' Benjamin, » and Cush- 
man.'^ He is sixth in descent from John Alden, who came in the Mayflower, 
through Ruth, daughter of Reverend Noah Alden of Bellingham, who 
married his grandfather, Benjamin Thayer. 

Eli Thayer received his early education in the district schools of Mendon 
and the Bellingham high school. Later he attended the academy at 
Amherst and the Manual Labor School, now the Worcester Academy, at 
Worcester. In i835-'36 he kept a school in Douglas, and the next four 
years assisted his father in a country store in Millville. In May, 1840, he 
reentered the Manual Labor School to fit fur Brown University, and was 
entered as a student at that institution in the fall of that year. In 1842 he 
kept a school in Hopkinton, Rhode Island, and while here was elected a 
member of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity, an honor seldom conferred 
before the senior year. In September of 1844 the superintendent of schools 
in Providence, Nathan Bishop, induced him to take charge of the boys' 
high school for the remainder of the year by the offer of $600. This school, 
which had proved unmanageable in the hands of several masters, he 
reduced to order and subjection ; but in consequence of these undertakings 
he lost a year in college. He was graduated in 1845, the second in his 
class. He immediately came to Worcester to teach in the Academy, and 
later became principal. In 1845 he purchased of John Jaques four acres 
and ninety rods of land on what was then called Goat hill, at $150 per acre. 



The Worcester of 1898. 769 

and in 1848 began the erection of the building called the Oread, which was 
completed in 1852. Here he established the famous school for young 
women, which he conducted with great success until he entered upon his 
Kansas and Congressional work. He was elected a member of the School 
Board in 1852, was an alderman in i852-'53, and he served in the State 
Legislature in 1853 and 1854. During his first year he became conspicuous 
by the introduction of a bill to incorporate the Bank of Mutual Redemp- 
tion, which was hailed with delight by bankers and moneyed men 
throughout the State, as it afforded a means of release from the autocratic 
rule of the Suffolk Bank of Boston. But it was in 1854 that Mr. Thayer 
accomplished the- great act of his life, which will enroll his name among 
the benefactors of mankind, in originating the [ilan which saved Kansas 
and the other territories to freedom, and settled the destiny of the nation ; 
for if the Southern leaders had secured the territories, it would have given 
them the balance of power for many years to come, and there would have 
been no Rebellion; the North would have acquiesced, as it always had, in 
the decision of a Congressional majority. 

It was at a meeting to protest against the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise, held in the old City Hall in Worcester, on the evening of March 
II, 1854, that Mr. Thayer announced his celebrated "Plan of Freedom." 
It was simply to take possession by lawful means of the new territories 
through organized emigration of free-state men sustained by a base of 
supplies. This Mr. Thayer tersely defined as "Business Anti-Slavery," 
distinguished from sentimental and political anti-slavery, both of which 
had been tried for many years and failed, slavery in the meantime con- 
stantly growing stronger. ]\Ir. Thayer clearly saw that whichever side 
obtained the majority of actual settlers would control the institutions of 
the new section in spite of all efforts to establish others among them, and 
to the purpose of securing this majority for freedom he devoted all his 
energies and all his means until that end was accomplished. 

He immediately secured the passage of an act to incorporate the Massa- 
chusetts Emigrant Aid Company, and before the vote to repeal the Missouri 
Compromise was taken, hired a hall in Boston, and began to speak afternoon 
and evening in promotion of his undertaking. But the intense excitement 
and strong opposition which had followed the announcement of the purpose 
to repeal the compromise in a great measure subsided after that act was 
accomplished, and Mr. Thayer found extreme difficulty during the next 
three months in persuading a sufificient number of men to join in his 
enterprise to form the first colony. The Know-Nothing frenzy so fully 
absorbed the public mind that other considerations were almost entirely 
excluded, and the Free-Soil vote of 1854 dwindled to a few thousands, the 
Republican candidate for governor of the State himself deserting his party 
and voting with the native Americans. 

Mr. Thayer traveled over a wide section and addressed many thousand 
people before he was able to revive the enthusiasm which had greeted his 
first appeal. But after the departure of the advance colony in July- '854, 
there was little difficulty, and the South soon awoke to the fact that it had 




ELI THAYER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 771 

at last met a formidable power. The unlawful aggression of the slave 
element against the free-state settlers in Kansas soon aroused the North, 
and the conflict which followed is familiar in history. Mr. Thayer gave all 
his strength, his time, his money, to the work of saving Kansas, until the 
border ruffians and the powers at Washington abandoned the fight at the 
end of 1856. He then turned his attention to the colonization of western 
Virginia, and founded the town of Ceredo. His "Friendly Invasion" of 
the Old Dominion had the countenance of Governor Wise and other 
prominent men of that section, and the undertaking progressed to consid- 
erable extent ; but the opening of the war suspended the work. 

In the fall of 1S56 Mr. Thayer was elected to Congress as the representa- 
tive from the Worcester District, and at once took a leading position in the 
national Legislature. His speeches on Central American colonization, on 
the " Suicide of Slavery," and on the admission of Oregon, brought him great 
fame. By the former he extinguished the hopes of the Southern propa- 
gandists, who were planning a great slave empire to include Mexico, 
Central America and Cuba; and by the latter and by personal effort he 
secured the admission of Oregon into the Union against the caucus decision 
of his own party. In this act he planted himself upon broad and states- 
manlike grounds in opposition to partisan dictation, and was sustained by 
leading Republican organs throughout the country, although he received 
some censure at home. In i860, after a most exciting canvass, he failed of 
reelection by a narrow margin. 

During the Rebellion Mr. Thayer proposed to Secretary Stanton a plan 
for the military colonization of Florida as an effective method of quelling 
the insurrection and restoring the Union. The plan was approved by 
President Lincoln, several of the military leaders, and a majority of 
Congress, and was supported by great meetings held in Cooper Institute 
in New York, and in Brooklyn, but other military operations intervened 
and the opportunity passed, much to the regret of those interested. In 
recent years Mr. Thayer has advocated his colonization scheme as a remedy 
for polygamy in L^tah. 

Mr. Thayer took the initiative in developing the south end of the city 
for manufacturing purposes in erecting, more than forty years ago, the 
large shop since known as the Adriatic Mills, and in securing the erection 
of the Junction shop, the latter the property of the late Colonel James 
Estabrook. He also laid out and improved several streets and tracts of 
land in that vicinit}-. He is the author of "The Kansas Crusade," a 
graphic account of his great work; and he has written much of history 
for magazines and newspapers during the past twenty years, showing that 
in the events above recorded the present and most important epoch of our 
country's history had its origin. 

John Randolph Thayer, congressman-elect from the Worcester District, 
was born in Douglas, Massachusetts, March 9, 1845, son of Mowry and 
Harriet (Morse) Thayer. He received his early education in the common 
schools of his native town, and at the age of sixteen became a student at 
Nichols Academy, Dudley, where he fitted for college. He entered Yale 




JOHN R. THAYER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 773 

College at New Haven in 1865, and was graduated four years later, with 
more than an average standing. While in college he took an active interest 
in athletics, and rowed on his class crew. He was a member of several 
college societies, and was popular with his associates. 

In 1869, the year of his graduation, he came to Worcester, and began the 
study of law in the office of the late Judge Henry Chapin, and in 187 1 was 
admitted to the bar. He was associated in practice at first with the late 
Judge Hartley Williams, and later, for six years, with W. A. Williams. He 
then formed a partnership with Charles S. Chapin, under the name of Thayer 
& Chapin, and in 1885 the existing connection with Arthur P. Rugg, now 
city solicitor, was formed, with the firm name of Thayer & Rugg. Mr. 
Thayer has from the beginning enjoyed an extensive law practice, and has 
tried many important cases, including several notable ones for capital 
offences. Perhaps in his profession and practice of law his most conspicuous 
successes have been achieved in the trial of causes before judges. He is 
peculiarly adapted by nature and training to this branch of his profession. 
His position at the bar has been prominent, and he is well known throughout 
the county and the State. Of late years Mr. Thayer has given more attention 
to civil cases, which now employ most of his time. 

Mr. Thayer early entered into politics, and for many years has been a 
prominent exponent of the Democratic policy in political campaigns. His 
powers as a public speaker are generally acknowledged, and he has the 
faculty of getting in touch with his hearers. His personal popularity is 
great, and he has always, whenever he has been a candidate for office, 
received more votes than other nominees of his party. His traits of 
personality are inborn, and he is a strong believer in the equality of men, a 
belief which he lives out in his every-day life and conduct. A friend once 
made is seldom lost by him, and he remembers his friends the year round. 
His is not a forced assumption of friendship, manufactured simply for ready 
use during a political campaign, and those with whom he comes in contact 
thoroughly appreciate this. He was for four years a member of the Common 
Council, and served a corresponding period in the Board of Aldermen. In 
1880 and 1 88 1 he was a representative in the General Court, serving on the 
Judiciary Committee, and taking a very active and prominent position 
among the leaders of the House each year. In 1890 and 1891 he was in the 
State Senate, where he ranked among the first in that body. 

Mr. Thayer has been a candidate once for mayor, and received the largest 
vote ever given a Derhocratic candidate for that office. In 1892 he contested 
a seat in Congress with Honorable J. H. Walker, coming within 784 votes 
of election, the Democratic candidate for president running behind the 
Republican candidate by more than 3,000 votes in this district. In 1898 Mr. 
Thayer was again a candidate against Honorable Joseph H. Walker, who 
had "held the office of congressman for ten years, and Mr. Thayer was elected 
by a majority of 167. 

Mr. Thayer is a man of strong personal magnetism, kindly heart, and 
strong will, which he always holds subject to influence by argument and 
information, but never by popular clamor. He has the power of making and 




CHARLES S. TURNER. 



The Worcester of 1898. 775 

holding man)- friends. He is an enthusiastic sportsman, president of the 
Worcester Sportsmen's Club; but, aside from some college societies, never 
joined any secret societies or clubs of any kind whatsoever. 

Mr. Thayer married, January 30, 1872, Charlotte D., daughter of Pitt and 
Diana (Perrin) Holmes. They have six children: Henry Holmes, John 
Mowry, Charlotte Diana, Marguerite Elizabeth, Mary Perrin, and Edward 
Carrington. The first two have graduated from Harvard College, and are 
now studying law. 

Charles Salisbury Turner was born in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. He 
was one of five brothers, sons of Timothy P. Turner, whose father, James, 
emigrated from Maine to Bethlehem in 1788. 

Charles, at the age of twenty-one, left home and went to Norwich, 
Connecticut, where he found employment with the Norwich & Worcester 
Railroad Company. Later he was station-agent at Putnam, and then for 
fifteen years was general agent of the railroad and steamboat company. He 
removed to Worcester, and was sixteen years superintendent of the Worcester 
& Nashua Railroad, and finally, for four years, president of the Worcester, 
Nashua & Rochester Railroad. Three of his brothers were prominently 
connected with railway service in New England. 

After his retirement Mr. Turner devoted himself to the management of 
his private affairs. He was a director of the Worcester & Shrewsbury 
Railroad, and also of the Worcester & Shrewsbury Street Railway. He was 
one of the organizers of the Worcester Board of Trade. He was for many 
years a member of the Church of the Unity. 

Mr. Turner married Sarah, daughter of John Andrews of Boston. ^Mrs. 
Turner died several years ago. Of their three children, a son is deceased, 
and two daughters, Harriet I. and Helen Gertrude, survive their parents. 
Mr. Turner died August 8, 1897. 

Roger Freeman Upham, son of Freeman and Elizabeth (Livermore) Upham, 
was born in Worcester September 13, 1848. He is descended from John 
Upham, who came to Weymouth from England with the Hull colony in 1635. 
On his mother's side a prominent ancestor was Oliver Watson, a Revolu- 
tionary patriot of Leicester, and through the Livermore line he is a lineal 
descendant from John, the emigrant, who settled in Watertown in 1638; 
and whose son of the same name was a lieutenant in King Philip's war. 
David Livermore, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a 
Revolutionary soldier in Captain Ebenezer Mason's company from vSpencer, 
who marched to Lexington on the 19th of April, 1775, ^"^ joined Colonel 
Jonathan Warner's regiment. The father of Mr. Upham was a well-known 
carpenter and builder of this city fifty years ago. Roger was educated in 
the public schools in Worcester, passing in course through the several 
grades, and graduating at the high school in 1866 as salutatorian in the 
English department. Immediately after graduation, he entered the office 
of the People's Fire Insurance Company of Worcester as entry clerk, and 
was soon advanced to the position of bookkeeper, and within a few years 
became assistant secretary. In consequence of losses incurred in the Boston 




ROGER F. UPHAM. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



777 



fire of 1872, the People's Company was compelled to suspend business, and 
soon after Mr. Upham formed an engagement with the Worcester Mutual 
Fire Insurance Company, to which he has given faithful and devoted 
service for twenty-six years. This company was formed in 1823, and 
antedates any other incorporated mutual insurance company now doing 
business in the State of Massachusetts. Its first president was Levi Lincoln, 
who resigned within a year to become governor of the Commonwealth, and 
succeeding presidents have been Rejoice Newton, Frederick William Paine, 
Anthony Chase, Ebenezer Torrey and John A. Fayerweather, and the 
secretaries Henry K. Newcomb, William D. Wheeler, Isaac Goodwin, 
Anthony Chase and Charles M. Miles. Mr. Upham became assistant 
secretary in 1873, and in 1880 was elected secretary, which office, conjointly 
with that of treasurer, he still holds. An honor was conferred upon this 
old company by the Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance L^nion, composed 
of the managers of the mutual companies of this Commonwealth, by electing 
Mr. LTpham as its president. 

Mr. Upham is a trustee of the Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank, 
secretary of the Home for Aged Men, trustee of the Rural Cemetery Cor- 
poration, and is interested in various philanthropic and social organ- 
izations. 

Mr. Upham was married in 1873 to Clara Story of Worcester. They have 
one daughter. Edith Story Upham. 

Joseph Godfroi Vaudreuil was born in Lotbiniere, province of Quebec, 
November 15, 1850. He spent his early life on a farm, and received his 
education in the public schools of his native place. 

He came to Worcester in the spring of 1868 and commenced work with 
Mr. J. C. French. Two years later he became the foreman for H. W. Eddy, 
a leading builder and contractor. In 1889 he went into business for himself, 
and has been a very successful contractor, building many fine residences. 
Among them are those of Mr. P. W. 
Moen, Charles F. Washburn, Charles 
G. Washburn, Jesse Moore, C. S. Barton 
and A. B. Woods. He also was the builder 
of the Worcester Academy buildings and 
Prentice Bros.' big shop. 

Mr. Vaudreuil has a shop at No. 93 Fos- 
ter street, where he manufactures all his 
house finish and does general cabinet 
work. He is president of the Quinsiga- 
mond Steamboat Company. 

He is a member of the St. Jean Baptiste 
Society, and was for six years its presi- 
dent. He also belongs to the Casino Club, 
was its president for many terms, and all 
the French societies of Worcester. He is 
a member of the Worcester Continentals 
and the Hancock Club. 




VAUDREUIL. 



778 



The Worcester of li 




CHARLES A. VAUGHAN. 



In politics ;\Ir. Vaudreiiil is a staunch 
Republican, but has never held office, 
preferring to devote his time \vholl_\- to 
business. 

Charles Augustus Vaughan, the subject 
ot this sketch, was born in Shoreham, 
Vermont, August 19, 1847. His father 
was George P. Vaughan, a well-to-do 
farmer of the old, substantial A'ermont 
stock. When Charles was quite young the 
family removed to Thetford, and in the 
schools of that town he received his educa- 
tion. He left Thetford Academy when 
he was eighteen years old and came to 
Worcester, since which time he has made 
this city his home. He learned the carpen- 
ters' trade of Messrs. H. & A. Palmer, 
anil was in their employ for several years. 
About twenty years ago he started in business for himself, and has become 
one of the leading builders in this part of the State. His special line has 
been the erection of elegant and substantial residences, and his work has 
always given satisfaction. As samples might be mentioned the houses of 
Gilbert Harrington and L. D. Thayer on Main street; T. P. Brown and 
Henry C. Taylor, Richards street ; William H. Sawyer and George F. Blake, 
Junior, Lincoln street; George Hey wood, Gardner street; J. D. Baldwin, 
Cedar street, and Frederick S. Taylor, Institute road. 

Mr. Vaughan has always been an ardent Republican, but has never held 
a political office. At the city election this winter he was chosen as alderman 
from the ist Ward by a very flattering vote; and he will thus become one 
of the leading members of our City Government for the year 1899. He has 
been identified with and interested in the city's growth and prosperity for 
several years, being a member of the Board of Trade and the Builders' 
Exchange. For two years he was president of the Exchange, and has ever 
been one of its most active members. He is a member of the Vermont 
Association, and was for a time its president. He is also a director in the 
Merchants & Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company. 

In religious faith Mr. Vaughan is a Congregationalist, and a member of 
Union Church. He is one of the trustees, and was one of the Building 
Committee in the erection of the new church edifice. Mr. Vaughan has a fine 
residence at 28 William street, where he has lived the past thirteen years. 

Joseph Henry Walker,* representative in Congress from the Worcester 
District, was born in Boston December 21, 1829. His parents, Hannah 
Thayer (Chapin) and Joseph Walker, were residents of Hopkinton during 
the early boyhood days of the subject of this sketch, and in 1843 removed 
to Worcester, where the elder Walker established the boot and shoe manu- 



* See portrait on page 314. 



The Worcester of 1898. 779 

factoring business, which was continued and expanded by his sons. Joseph 
H. received his education in the public schools, but acquired most of his 
information through his own methods and natural aptitude. He is a born 
debater, and was prominent in the Young Men's Rhetorical Society, where 
he gained a thorough knowledge of parliamentary practice, and a familiarity 
with public speaking. He was elected to the Common Council of the city 
of Worcester at the age of twenty-three, and its president in i86g; and was 
elected to the State Legislature in 1879, 1880 and 1887. All this time he 
was actively engaged in business as one of the leading boot and shoe 
manufacturers in the country. He was for several years a member of the 
National Hide & Leather Association, and was a vice-president of the New 
England Shoe & Leather Association, and was president of the Worcester 
Board of Trade for many years. He gave much attention to the subject of 
finance, and wrote and spoke frequently on trade, banking and coinage. 

In 1888 Mr. Walker was elected to Congress, where he has served 
continuously by successive reelections to the present time. His great 
familiarity with his specialty of finance brought him at once into prominence, 
and he has made numerous speeches and taken part in the debates on this 
and kindred questions. He was appointed by Speaker Reed on the Committee 
on Banking and Currency, and the Committee on Coinage, Weights and 
Measures, in the Fifty-first Congress, and was made chairman of the former 
committee when the Republicans regained control in the Fifty-fourth 
Congress, and still holds that place, which is regarded as one of the most 
important in the House. There is no man in Congress who has greater 
practical knowledge of the effects of tariffs or the necessities of the interests 
involved than Mr. Walker, and his influence in three great tariff debates 
has been strongly felt. 

No citizen writes to Mr. Walker without getting a prompt reply, and 
what he asks for is obtained if it is possible to get it. He is free from all 
suspicion of acting as the agent of any corporation, and is beyond all question 
of serving his own personal interest at the sacrifice of that of the public. 

Mr. Walker is a trustee of Brown University, a trustee of Newton Theologi- 
cal Seminary, and president of the Board of Trustees of Worcester Academy. 
He is also prominently identified with other public and financial institutions. 

Mr. Walker married in 1852 Sarah Ellen, daughter of Jubal Harrington, 
who died leaving one daughter, now Mrs. Milton Shirk of Peru, Indiana. 
In 1862 he married Hannah M. (Kelley) Spear, and they have three children, 
Joseph and George Walker and ]\Irs. Adams D. Claflin. 

Charles Grenfill Washburn,* son of Charles F. and Mary E. (Whiton) 
Washburn, was born in Worcester January 28, 1857. He received his earlier 
education in the public schools, was graduated at the Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute in 1875, and at Harvard University in i88q. In 1880 he established 
the business of the Wire Goods Company of this city, with which he is still 
connected; and in 1882 became treasurer and manager of the Worcester Barb 
Fence Company, a corporation which has since ceased to do business. From 



■ See portrait on page 440. 



78o 



The Worcester of li 



1884 to 1 89 1 he was connected with the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing 
Company, and during the latter part of this period was a director and 
executive officer. In 1886 he was admitted to the Suffolk bar, and has 
practised law in Worcester since 1891. He is a trustee and the treasurer of 
the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He was a member of the Massachusetts 
House of Representatives in 1897 and 1898, serving the first year on the 
Committee on Mercantile Affairs, and the second year as chairman of the 
Committee on Taxation, and has been elected to the vState Senate to 
represent the First Worcester District. 

Mr. Washburn married, April 25, 1889, Caroline Vinton Slater, daughter 
of H. N. Slater of Webster. They have two sons: Slater Washburn, born 
August 3, 1896, and Charles Francis Washburn, born May 10, 189S. 



III Ki if 'liP^^f I 





RESIDENCE OF JESSE P. TABER, 198 PARK 



Charles Francis Washburn* was born in Harrison, Cumberland county, 
Maine, August 23, 1827. His father, Charles Washburn, born in Kingston, 
Massachusetts, was of a good, old colony family, and in direct line of descent 
from Governor William Bradford. His mother, whose maiden name was 
Blake, belonged to one of the best and most respected families in Maine. 

Charles Washburn, the father, a practising lawyer in Harrison, Maine, 
came to • Worcester in 1835 to engage in the wire business with his twin 
brother, Ichabod. His son, Charles, then a boy eight years old, attended 
the schools in Worcester, and was subsequently graduated from the 
Leicester Academy. He was, however, prevented by ill health from going 
to college, and went into his father's mill, where he learned the wire 
business, in which he continued for over fortv-five vears until his death. 



'See portrait on page 459. 



The Worcester of 1898. 781 

He was a director in and vice-president of the Washburn & Moen 
Manufacturing Company, taking a leading part in the administration of 
the affairs of that great corporation ; and to his enterprise and apparently 
intuitive knowledge of those branches of the wire business which could be 
most profitably engaged in, is due in large measure the prosperity of this 
corporation. This is most conspicuously illustrated by his foresight in 
securing to his company the control of the barbed-wire patents and the 
commanding position in that large and lucrative business. 

Mr. Washburn was so entirely absorbed in his business that he had little 
time to give to public affairs, and, save one term in the City Council, held 
no public office. He was upon the governing board of two of Worcester's 
notable charities, founded by his uncle, Ichabod — the Memorial Hospital 
and the Home for Aged Women — being vice-president of the former and 
president of the latter. 

He was a man of fine literary tastes, widely read, and found his greatest 
pleasure and most complete relaxation among his books. 

Mr. Washburn was a man of deeply religious nature, and a communicant 
in All Saints' Episcopal Church. 

His life was well described by some of his associates as "that of the good 
citizen and Christian gentleman, an example to his fellow men and a 
blessing to the community." 

He was married, October 10, 1855, to Mary, eldest daughter of James 
M. Whiton of Boston, Massachusetts, and Plymouth, New Hampshire. 
They were the parents of eight children — seven sons and one daughter — all 
of whom survived their father, excepting one son who died in infancy. 

!Mr. Washburn died in Worcester July 20, 1893. 

John Kelso Warren, M. D., son of Joseph H. and Mary A. (Kelso) Warren, 
was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, jMarch i, 1846. He received his 
early education in the public schools and at Mount Vernon and Francestown 
Academies, and entered upon the study of medicine at the New York 
Homoeopathic Medical College, from which institution he was graduated 
on his twenty-fourth birthday in 1870. The expenses of his education he 
paid by working and teaching vacations. 

He began the practice of his profession in the town of Palmer, Massachu- 
setts, where he remained, with the exception of a year's absence abroad, 
until he removed to Worcester at the close of the year 18S2. During a 
portion of this time he was the only homoeopathic physician in practice 
between Worcester and Springfield. 

In i879-'8o he spent several months in Europe perfecting himself in the 
study of surgery at the hospitals of London, Edinburgh, Paris and 
Heidelberg, and acquiring the results of the latest scientific research at 
the great medical centres. 

Immediately upon his removal to Worcester, Doctor Warren entered 
into a large practice, and has maintained a high reputation as a skillful 
and successful surgeon and physician. In 1893 he established a private 
surgical hospital, the first institution of its kind in the city. He was 
foremost in the foundation of the Hahnemann Hospital, which was opened 




"^PD**'' 



JOHN K. WARREN. 



The Worcester of 1898. 



783 



in 1S97. He is a member of the American Institute of Hom(£opathy, of 
the Massachusetts State Medical Society, and the Massachusetts Surgical 
Society, and of various local social and other bodies. 

Doctor Warren was married in 1873 to Augusta A. Davis of Newport, 
New Hampshire, who died in April, 1892. Of this marriage there were 
two daughters. He married, second, Nettie Coffin Balch of Newbury port, 
Massachusetts, in the year 1895. Of this union there is one daughter. 

Charles S. Webster was born in the south part of the town of Leicester, 
Massachusetts, March 3, 1S56. His father, Benjamin Webster, a native of 
Leeds, Yorkshire, England, came to this country at the age of fourteen, 
and died in 1890 while on a visit to his native land, and is buried near his 
birthplace. His mother, Elizabeth Helf, a native of Bavaria, Germany, 
came to America at the age of five years, and is still living on Orchard 
street in this city. 

Charles obtained a partial school educa- 
tion in Leicester, but at an early age went 
to work in the carding-room of the old 
Booth Bottomly woolen mill at Cherry 
Valley, afterwards working at the Ash- 
worth & Jones' mill in the same depart- 
ment, and continued in that situation until 
he came to Worcester in 1870. Here he 
attended the Belmont street school and 
the high school. He afterwards passed 
six months in England for his health, and 
finished his education. In 1875 he located 
in Middletown, New York, where he was 
employed for three years as superintend- 
ent of an eleven-set woolen mill, and 
after a two years' residence in Yonkers in 
the same business, returned to Middle- charles s webster 

town, finally leaving there and coming 

again to Worcester in 1881. He was in the grocery basiness here between 
two and three years, and then became a traveling salesman for the whole- 
sale grocery house of Babcock & Brigham of Providence, Rhode Island, 
his territory covering New England, and removed to Providence with his 
family. Later Mr. Webster was in the employ of Cobb, Aldrich & Co. of 
Boston, and of the importing house of the R. L. Rose Company of Provi- 
dence, and left the latter to enter into business for himself, organizing the 
Worcester Welting Company at Worcester in 1892. This concern did a 
large business during Mr. Webster's connection with it, exporting shoe 
welts to several European countries, besides supplying the domestic trade. 

From the time that he was a boy working in the mill, and during all the 
years that he was engaged in business, Mr. Webster had given his spare 
time to study, particularly of the law, and had always cherished an ambition 
to enter that profession. He was, therefore, at the time he entered the 
office of P. T. Carroll, Esquire, to prepare for entrance to the bar, well 





GEORGE D. WEE 



The Worcester of 1898. 785 

advanced in the knowledge of that branch of learning, and after about two 
years" study was admitted to practice June 30, 1897. He is now engaged 
in general law business, principally civil matters, but gives much attention 
to probate and insolvency cases. 

In politics Mr. Webster has always been a Democrat, and has served as 
delegate in city, county and councilor conventions, but has invariably 
declined office. In religion he is an Episcopalian. He is a 32° Mason, a 
Knight Templar of St. John's Commandery of Providence, the oldest 
commandery in the country; and a member of Palestine Temple, A. A. O. 
X. M. S. He is a member of Eagle Lodge, No. 2, I. O. O. F., of Provi- 
dence; and is senior past chancellor of Lancelot Lodge, Xo. 169, K. of P., 
of Middletown, Xew York, of which he was the founder and organizer. 
He has been a member of the Grand Lodge, K. of P., of Xew York, 
eighteen years. 

Mr. Webster married, Xovember 5, 1S79, Minnie W. , daughter of John 
B. and Henrietta Tarbell of Worcester. They have no children. 

George Daland Webb was born in Barre, Massachusetts, April 16, 1S54. 
He commenced business for himself when very young, coming to Worcester 
in 1873 and starting the stone business on a small scale at Xew Worcester. 
In 1879 he removed to Millstone hill and opened a quarry. Finding this 
too small for his energy and aspirations, he went into the same business at 
Fitzwilliam, Xew Hampshire, in 1882. Three years later he opened his 
works at Marlborough, Xew Hampshire, where he now has one of the largest 
and finest granite quarries in this country. He disposed of the quarries at 
Fitzwilliam in 1895. 

In 1891 the Webb Granite & Construction Company was incorporated 
under the laws of Xew Hampshire, with headquarters in Worcester. Mr. 
Webb is the president and manager. The business has increased rapidlv, 
and its building operations extend all over Xew England. 

The company's quarries are on a branch of the Fitchburg railroad, and it 
ships out about three thousand cars of stone each year. Much of it comes to its 
yard in this city, and the works on Crescent street are worth examining. 
Here it has machinery for cutting, sawing, turning and polishing. It 
is this j-ear at work on the new County Court House in Worcester; 
also in erecting a fine substantial block on Waldo street for the Dwight 
Foster heirs. The stone for the Back Bay station of the Xew York, Xew 
Haven & Hartford Railroad, Boston, is being furnished by this company. 
The compan}- employs between five and six hundred men. It built 
the L'^nion Church on Chestnut street, the Holy Cross College extension, 
the new city Fire Department building on Bigelow court, Curtis & Marbles" 
new machine shop. Rice, Barton & Fales' new factory, all of this city; 
First Congregational Church. Xashua. X'ew Hampshire, and the Somerset 
Hotel, Boston. 

Mr. Webb was married in 1875 to Abbie Holman Barnard of Xew York. 
They have five children — two boj-s and three girls. He is a member of the 
Worcester and Commonwealth Clubs of this citj', and the Exchange Club of 
Boston. He also belongs to the Builders' Exchange and the Board of Trade. 



■"^ wsf 




FRED W. WELLINGTON. 



The Worcester of 1898. 787 

In politics Mr. Webb is independent, and still retains his residence in New 
Hampshire. 

Fred Williams Wellington was born in Shirley, Massachusetts, May 31, 
1 85 1. His father, Timothy W. Wellington, who was born in Lexington, 
Massachusetts, July 4, 1 811, is remembered as a prominent and patriotic 
citizen of Worcester in the time of the war for the Union, giving four sons 
to the service of the country, and sacrificing the lives of two of them to the 
cause; and contributing much in means and effort to ameliorate the hard- 
ships and relieve the sufferings of the soldiers. He died in Alburg Springs, 
Vermont, August 26, 1884, aged seventy-three years. The great-grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch. Captain Timothy Wellington of Lexington, 
was distinguished in the Revolutionary War. He was a member of Captain 
Parker's company, the first to meet the king's troops on Lexington Green, 
April 19, 1775. The family descended from Roger Wellington of Watertown 
in 1639. 

Fred W. Wellington came to Worcester with his father's family when 
the removal from Shirley was made in 1855, and attended the public schools, 
and also for two years schools in Germany and France. The military 
instinct was strong in him, and in his youth he was drummer boy, from 1861 
to 1865, for the old State Guards. In June, 1868, he became bookkeeper at 
the First National Bank in Worcester, remaining in that place until 
October, 1869. He was in charge of the Southbridge street coal yard of T. 
W. Wellington from October, 1869, to November, 1871, and from that time 
to June, 1872, was in California. In June, 1872, a partnership was formed 
under the name of T. W. Wellington & Company, of which firm he was the 
junior member, for the purpose of carrying on the wholesale and retail coal 
business, and he remained in that connection till May, 1S74. In 1874 
Colonel Wellington associated himself with James S. Rogers and Arthur A. 
Goodell, doing business under the firm name of J. S. Rogers ■& Company. 
In 1876 the name was changed to A. A. Goodell & Company, Mr. Rogers 
retiring. In 1877 Colonel Wellington bought the Hammond street yard, 
and engaged in the wholesale and retail trade on his own account. The 
following year the two companies consolidated, and the style became Fred 
W. Wellington &- Co. He is the sole owner of the business at the present 
time, and has been twenty-one years. He is also president of the American 
Car Sprinkler Company, for watering streets by electric power. 

Colonel Wellington joined the militia in 1882, and was commissioned on 
the 2 2d of March second lieutenant in Battery B, Light Artillery, First 
Brigade, M. V. M. In January, 1883, he became first lieutenant, and 
by his great interest in the militia, evinced in various ways, came 
to be considered a representative military man, and was very popular 
with his command. He became captain vSeptember 29, 1884. In January, 
1887, he was appointed assistant inspector-general on the staft" of Governor 
Ames, with the rank of colonel. This office he resigned in 1891, and enlisted 
in Battery B, his old command. He was reappointed to the same position 
on the staff of Governor Greenhalge in 1894, by whom he was reappointed in 
1895; and again by Acting Governor Wolcott, who has continued Colonel 




JEROME WHEELOCK. 



The Worcester of 1898. 789 

Wellington in the same position by successive annual reappointments to the 
present time, making seventeen years' continuous service in the State 
militia, excepting a short interval during the administration of Governor 
Russell. 

At the breaking out of the Spanish War of 1898, Colonel Wellington 
earnestly desired to enter the active service of his country, and received the 
strongest endorsements as to his qualifications from Governor Wolcott, 
Senators Hoar and Lodge, and Congressman Walker; and his appointment 
as inspector-general, with the rank of major, was nearly consummated, but 
Senator Hoar, after his return home from Washington, for some reason best 
known to himself, withdrew his support, without which the president would 
not make the appointment, and the cherished ambition of Colonel Welling- 
ton's life was defeated. 

The Wellington Rifles, attached to the Second Massachusetts Regiment 
in the Cuban War, was named in his honor. He is a 32° Mason, and a 
member of Worcester County Commandery, Knights Templars. In 1892 he 
was captain-general in that body. 

In politics Colonel Wellington has been more or less prominent, serving 
on the Republican State Central Committee in iSSy-'SS-'SQ, and returning 
in i893-'94-'95 and '96, and served as a member of the Executive Committee. 
He was chairman of the Fourth District Senatorial Committee in iSSy-'SS, 
and secretary of the Tenth Congressional Republican District in i886-'87-'88. 
He was chairman of the Republican County Committee from 1887 to 1898, 
and still continues in that position. 

Colonel Wellington married, September 4, 1883, Lydia A., widow of 
General Arthur A. Goodell, of the Thirtv-si.xth Massachusetts Regiment in 
the war for the Union. 

Jerome Wheelock, son of Daniel and Susan (Pratt) W^heelock, was born in 
Grafton, Massachusetts, June 20, 1834. He is descended in the seventh 
generation from Ralph W^heelock, who was born in Shropshire, Wales, in 
1600; came to America, and died in Dedham, Massachusetts, at the age of 
eighty-three, through vSamuel," Samuel,^ Paul,^ Paul," and Daniel." He 
received the benefits of such limited opportunities as the common schools 
of the period afforded, and at an early age left his home without the 
knowledge or consent of his parents, and his whereabouts and circumstances 
were unknown to them until he was in a situation of independence. By the 
assistance of the Honorable Abraham M. Bigelow he obtained a place in the 
Taunton Locomotive Works, and served a full apprenticeship, leaving that 
establishment with the highest recommendations as to his ability and 
trustworthiness. 

In 1858 he came to Worcester and entered the employ of the Washburn 
Iron Works, and while in this situation he invented the now celebrated 
Wheelock steam cylinder packing, and soon engaged, in company with Mr. 
Charles A. Wheeler, in its manufacture extensiveh'. After the death of 
Mr. Wheeler in 1867, Mr. Wheelock carried on the business alone. During 
the next two or three years several inventions by Mr. Wheelock appeared 
in rapid succession, and in 1870 the works on L^nion street were occupied. 



790 The Worcester of i8g8. 

where these and the Wheelock engine were developed. With the money 
obtained through the success of minor patents, he was able to perfect and to 
bring to a practical demonstration the engine, and the universal acknowl- 
edgment by the most competent mechanical experts of its merits is sufficient 
proof of its excellence. 

In 1875 the great gold medal of progress, the only one ever awarded for 
a steam engine, was given Mr. Wheelock by the American Institute, New 
York. He also received the medal and diploma of the Centennial Exhibition 
at Philadelphia in 1876. At the Paris International Exposition of 1878 he 
was awarded the grand prize, the only one for a steam engine, and he was 
one of the eight in this country that received this honor. At London, 
Edinburgh, Brussels and Cincinnati, the Wheelock engine was given the 
highest prize, and it has also received the commendation of the highest 
mechanical experts in all countries. The various stages of development of 
this engine to its perfect construction were not passed, as is well known to 
the citizens of Worcester, without a continual and persistent struggle to 
attain that end. The Wheelock engine is now manufactured in the United 
States, Canada, England, France, Belgium, and other countries. 

In 1888 the Wheelock Engine Company was incorporated, and Mr. 
Wheelock was relieved of the active management and given time to develop 
to a fuller degree the usefulness of his inventions. Several years ago he 
devised a system of ventilation for large halls, which has been successfully 
demonstrated in Mechanics Hall in Worcester, and he was in consequence 
given a special vote of thanks by the trustees of the Worcester County 
Musical Association. Mr. Wheelock has taken out a large number of 
patents, and has crossed the Atlantic sixty-six times in the interest of his 
inventions abroad. 

Mr. Wheelock is a member of the Worcester County Mechanics Association, 
the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association, the American Institute 
of Mining Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers: and 
in 1S79 the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain made him a member 
without solicitation, and in 1898 he was made a member of the Institute of 
Mechanical Engineers of London, one of the oldest scientific bodies in Great 
Britain. He is a 32° Mason. In politics he is a Republican, but he has 
never sought or accepted office, though often solicited. His religious views 
are liberal. He is against all shams that mastpierade as piety under 
whatever name, but believes fully in the practical application of the doctrine 
that sixteen ounces make a pound, and one hundred cents a dollar. He is a 
man of presence and distinguished personal appearance. 

Mr. Wheelock married in June, 1858, Lydia Ann Robinson of Concord. 
Of five children, two sons are living, Herbert and Harvey Lincoln, the 
latter a graduate of Harvard L^niversity, class of 1896, and now of Columbia 
Law School; he was admitted to the New York bar in June, 1898. A 
distinguished authority says of Mr. Wheelock: "As an inventor his name 
occupies a high place on the rolls of those distinguished engineers whose 
works adorn their country and their age." 



The Worcester of 1898. 791 

Joseph S. Wesby. In a place like Worcester, which one hundred years 
ago was probably the most important book-publishing centre in this 
country, and in which the formation of several valuable libraries has been 
in progress for many years, bookbinding is an important branch of indus- 
try. Isaiah Thomas undertook to maintain binderies in connection with 
his large publishing business, and in a measure succeeded, some of the 
finest of his editions being bound in his own establishment; but he was 
obliged to let out much of his less costly and elaborate work to persons in 
various parts of the county, who took the folded sheets to their homes and 
clothed them in the wooden boards, covered with dark blue paper and 
plain sheepskin backs, the style so common at that time. This required 
little skill or training. It is a singular fact that the origin of Robert B. 
Thomas's celebrated '^ Old Farmer's Almanac" was in the circumstance 
that the author, who had bound books for Isaiah Thomas in the manner 
above stated, and had taken his pay in printed almanacs which he sold 
about the country, had a falling out with the Worcester printer, which 
caused his supply of those useful pamphlets to be shut off, and he issued an 
almanac of his own, which has long outlived the one of which it was a rival. 

Early bookbinders in Worcester were George Merriam, who married 
a daughter of Reverend Doctor Joseph Sumner of Shrewsbury. He 
died in 1802. For many years Clark Whittemore was almost the sole 
representative of the craft in the town, and he was not all the time in 
business for himself, but worked for Clarendon Harris and other book- 
sellers in shops which they maintained. Andrew Hutchinson next succeeded 
with intervals of absence from Worcester, followed by Elijah H. Marshall, 
William Allen, Jonathan Grout and others. In 1842 Hutchinson & Crosby 
were running a bindery opposite the old Central Church on Main street, 
and it is at this time that the subject of this sketch first appeared in 
Worcester. 

Joseph S. Wesby was born in Philadelphia February 18, 1S18. The 
origin of the family name is involved in obscurit)', and it has few known 
representatives. Certain ancestors lived in ^Madeira, and were extensively 
engaged in business, and found their way to Philadelphia through the 
ways of commerce. The life of the boy of whom we write was much like 
that of others of his time, receiving such advantages as the common 
schools of the city of his birth afforded, and being- early apprenticed to a 
useful calling, in his case that of a pilot on the numerous water-ways in 
and around Philadelphia. After a while, however, finding that the duties 
exacted of him were irksome, and the associations and surroundings not 
according to his liking, he made his way back to his home, and soon 
after engaged in the vocation which he followed to the end of his life. He 
entered the employ of the since well-known publishing house of Lippin- 
cott, and there was initiated into and thoroughly mastered the mysteries 
and difficulties of the art of bookbinding. After the term for which he had 
been engaged expired, he worked at his trade in Philadelphia, and then 
made his way to Boston, and was employed in the bindery of the famous 
Bradleys, and while there an advertisement of the above-named Worcester 




JOSEPH S. WESBY. 



The Worcester of 1898. 793 

firm met his eye, and he came to this town about the beginninsj; of the year 
1843, and took a place in their establishment as a temporary supply. 

At that time John B. Gough, then just beginning his distinguished 
career as a reformer and orator, was an employee of Hutchinson & Crosby. 
In his autobiography he states that being distrustful of his ability to 
maintain himself by lecturing on temperance, he asked permission to leave 
his work for two weeks, and return if not successful in his new calling. 
He was binding polyglot Bibles and had fifty of them in process of com- 
pletion, so he carefully wrapped his apron around them and went away, 
"and never saw books or apron afterwards." There is evidence that Mr. 
Wesby finished those Bibles, for he took Mr. Gough's place in the bindery. 

Naturally industrious and enterprising, the young man did not long 
remain in the position of an employee, and as early as 1845 ^^'^ fi^^d him in 
business for himself, and thus he continued for a period of over fort}' years 
until his death, November 3, 1886. 

During most of this time he carried on the largest bindery in Worcester, 
and the only one capable of executing at all times all classes of work. Not 
a small part of his patronage from the first came from the library of the 
American Antiquarian Society, and this was supplemented by the binding 
from the Lyceum Library, which with the Doctor Green collection formed 
the nucleus of the Free Public Library. This patronage has continued to 
the present time in increasing proportions, which with the commercial and 
other work from the several large printing-offices in the city and State, 
contribute to the extensive business now in the hands of the sons of the 
founder, Herbert and Edward Wesby, under the name of J. S. Wesby & 
Sons. 

During the half century since the business was established, various 
locations have been occupied, two nearly opposite the head of Central 
street on Main, one of them being the southern store in Dickinson block, 
where he carried on a book-store in connection with the bindery, and was 
burned out in 1854; another on the site of the Burnside building; and the 
present quarters at 387 Main street were taken in i860. Since the death 
of their father the sons have established a branch at 50 Foster street, where 
most of the printed bookbinding is done, leaving the blank-book work at 
the old place, where the business office remains. 

Mr. Wesby married Annie E. Puffer, who died October 26, 1898. The 
children of this marriage, two sons and a daughter, survive their parents. 

John Whitaker was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, July 5, 1839. His 
father was a silk-printer in that city, and soon after the birth of John the 
family moved to Staten Island, New York. In 1849, when the California 
gold fever broke out, the father departed for the Pacific coast, and was never 
afterwards heard from. The son was thus early thrown upon his own 
resources, and began at the age of eleven to keep books for a coal-dealer. 
Some time later he was sent to Worcester to attend school, and within a few 
months his mother followed him. 

After his schooling was completed, he engaged himself to J. Brown, who 
had a shop on Mechanic street, to learn the machinists' trade, and continued 



794 



The Worcester of i8g8. 




JOHN WHITAKER. 



in that situation until he arrived at the age 
of twenty-one, when he began business 
for himself as a manufacturer of loom- 
reeds, in which he continued to the end 
of his life, and in which he achieved great 
success. At one time he added rail-mak- 
ing to his business, but this was not con- 
tinued. His loom-reeds were supplied to 
all sections of the country, particularly to 
the South, in the equipping of the new 
mills there. In the manufacture he kept 
pace with all the modern improvements, 
and in all his methods he was systematic 
and practical. At his death he had ac- 
quired a handsome competence, the result 
of his industry and enterprise. 

In early years Mr. Whitaker received 
an injury which resulted in a permanent 
lameness, which did not, however, affect his activity. He was a man of 
genial temperament and social disposition, and made many friends. He 
was a 32° Mason, a life member of the Worcester County Mechanics 
Association and the Worcester County Agricultural Society, and a trustee 
and treasurer of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church. 

In 1875 he married Jeanette E. Waite of this city, who died three years 
later, leaving one daughter, Nettie S. While visiting in the South, he made 
the acquaintance of Mrs. Mary A. Irwin, a woman of many accompHshments, 
the widow of a cotton-planter, who after her first husband's death carried 
on a cotton plantation at Mechanicsburg, near Yazoo City, Mississippi, and 
they were married on the 6th of January, 1890. Mr. Whitaker died on the 
3rd of jNIarch. 1S97. 

Harvey Bradish Wilder, son of Ale.x- 
ander H. and Harriet E. Wilder, was 
born in Worcester October 12, 1836. He 
was educated in the public schools and 
at Leicester Academy. In 1S55 he be- 
came a clerk with Ticknor & Fields, the 
widely known publishers of Boston, in 
their famous "Old Corner Bookstore." 
He returned to Worcester in vSeptember, 
1856, and entered the office of the regis- 
ter of deeds as head clerk, holding this 
position until the death of his father in 
1874, when he was appointed by the County 
Commissioners to succeed him as register. 
This office he resigned in 1875, but was 
elected to fill it again in 1876, and by 
successive reelections has continued to harvey b. wilder. 




The Worcester of 1898. 795 

discharge its duties to the present time, having now been connected 
with the registry for a period of forty-two years, with the exception of the 
year 1876. 

Mr. Wilder has always had an interest in military matters, and was a 
member of the City Guards from 1856 to 1861, and for many years has 
been a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. 
He is connected in Worcester with several social and other organizations. 
As a public official he is distinguished by his uniform courtesy, and in 
private life is esteemed for his sterling qualities. 

Mr. Wilder has been twice married; first, to Anna F. Chapman of Ossipee, 
New Hampshire, who died November 12, 1864: second, to !Mary J., 
daughter of Doctor [efferson Pratt of Hopkinton, June 14, 1870. He has 
one son, Charles P., by the last marriage. 

Samuel Winslow* was born in Newton, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, 
February 28, 1S27. He was a descendant from that family which was 
prominent in the early history of Plymouth colony. He was educated in 
the common schools, and was in his boyhood employed in the manufacture 
of cotton machinery, and at the age of twenty he was made foreman of a 
large shop. In 1855 he came to Worcester, and with his brother, Seth C. 
Winslow, started a machine-shop in the Merrifield building on Cypress 
street. In 1857 they began to manufacture skates, which industry is still 
continued. After the death of his brother in 1871, Mr. Winslow carried on 
the business alone until the formation of the Winslow Skate Manufacturing 
Com[Xiny in 1886, of which corporation he became president and treasurer. 

Mr. Winslow was a member of the Common Council in i864-'65, an 
alderman in 1885, and represented the Tenth District in the Legislature in 
i873-'74. In December, 1885, he was elected mayor and served four years, 
with one exception, a longer term than any of his predecessors. 

Mr. Winslow was early identified with the Mechanics Association, and 
served it as trustee, vice-president and president. He was a director of 
the Citizens National Bank, and president from 1889 until his death. He 
was also a trustee of the People's Savings Bank. During his last years he 
was interested in organizing and developing the electric railway system of 
central Massachusetts. He died October 21, 1894. 

Mr. Winslow married in 1848 Mary, daughter of David and Lydia 
Robbins of Xewton. Two sons. Frank Ellery and Samuel Ellsworth 
Winslow, were born of this union. 

Cyrus Grout Wood was born in Uxbridge November 16, 18 19. He died at 
his residence, 21 Harvard street, this city, March 3, i8g8. Though never 
identified with the manufacturing interests of Worcester, his home was here 
from May 8, 1880, and few men had a deeper concern in all that pertained 
to the city's lasting good. Of long Massachusetts lineage, he early began 
the battle of life in his native town. As a merchant and manufacturer, he 
excited and retained the thorough confidence of all his fellow townsmen, 
and as an Uxbridge business man he continued until in 1874, when the chief 



* See portrait on page 65. 



m 





CYRUS G. WOOD. 



The Worcester of 1898. 797 

part of his interests were transferred to the town of Holden, where, at 
Quinapoxet, he developed the extensive satinet business of that thriving 
hamlet. No man ever gave more complete attention to his duties, yet he 
always had time to look after the welfare of his employees, and to join 
heartily in the joys and concerns of his neighbors. 

A Republican in politics, he left undone no task that appeared his to 
perform, and in 1855 he represented Uxbridge in the Legislature. A 
member of the Unitarian Church in Worcester, he was an interested listener 
to the ministrations of the Rev. Calvin Stebbins, who, at the funeral of his 
parishioner, spoke eloquently and feelingly of his worth. He was a charter 
member of the Uxbridge Lodge of Odd Fellows. In Worcester he was at 
one time a director of the Citizens National Bank, a member of the Board 
of Trade, and an active worker in The Worcester Society of Antiquity. 

From a tribute written by a personal friend after the death of Mr. Wood, 
the following extracts are taken : 

" His influence was always on the right side. He was open and generous- 
hearted. In every good cause he was ever ready to contribute of his means 
and his energy. He had decided opinions, but they were intelligently 
formed and never offensively expressed. 

" He liked to see young people growing up under wholesome influences and 
starting in right courses of life, and many a young man was encouraged by 
his friendly and cheerful words. 

" Integrity was one of his marked characteristics, and it never failed to 
secure him the confidence of all with whom he was associated in business, 
while his strong attachments, his love of his home, his family, his friends, 
his church, and his native town and its associations made him highly 
esteemed in a wide circle of acquaintances. Though his mind was conserva- 
tive, he was of an enthusiastic nature. In his age he displayed the 
enthusiasm of boyhood in whatsoever things he liked." 

His widow, nee Southwick; his daughters, Gertrude Southwick and Sarah 
Louise, continue to reside at 21 Harvard street. His elder son, John 
Franklin, married Mary Leonard of Putnam, Connecticut, and has his home 
in Quinapoxet; Ernest Henry, the youngest son, married Adelaide Wyman, 
and resides at 69 West street in Worcester. The business begun by Mr. 
Wood is carried on by the two sons at Quinapoxet. 

Edwin Hayward Wood was born in Bolton, Massachusetts, in 1829, but 
his parents moved to the old homestead in West Acton when he was a 
child, and in that place he remained until 1849, when he came to Worcester. 
His boyhood days were spent in the public schools of his native town and 
in working on the farm with his father. 

He is a descendant of the Hayward family that took a prominent [lart in 
the early days of the Revolution. James Hayward, a brother of Mr. 
Wood's grandfather, was killed while fighting in Captain Davis's company 
at the battle of Lexington April 19, 1775. 

Mr. Wood learned the machinists' trade of Daniel Tainter, and when 
only twenty-five years old he was given the management of Mr. Taintcr's 
shop. This was one of the largest and best shops of its kind in those days. 



798 



The Worcester of li 




EDWIN H. WOOD. 



In 1873 he first engaged in business 
on his own account, and was success- 
fully continuing it when he entered into 
arrangement with Messrs. Harwood & 
Quincy for the making of the Bramwell 
feeder. This was in 1878, and when the 
Harwood & Quincy Machine Company 
was organized in 1881, Mr. Wood took a 
third interest and was made the general 
manager, a position he has held ever since. 
Mr. Wood was married in 1854 to Calista 
Johnson of Worcester, who died in i860. 
One child was born to them, who lived 
until he was three years and three months 
old. In 1862 Mr. Wood was married to 
his present wife, who was Miss Katie M. 
Heywood of this city. They have two 
children: a son, Frederick Crosby, born 
January 3, 1870, who has learned the machinists' trade, and now works in 
the Harwood & Quincy Machine Company's factory with his father; and 
Bessie Rutherford, born September 2, 18S5. The family reside at 48 Queen 
street, corner of King, where they have a beautiful home, which was pur- 
chased in 1891. 

Mr. Wood joined the Masonic fraternity in 1865, and is a member of 
Eureka Royal Arch Chapter and the Knights Templars. He is a Republican 
in politics, and attends Piedmont Church. Though si.xty-nine years of age, 
time has sat lightly on him, and few would believe him to be over sixty. 

Oliver Brooks Wood, son of Eliphalet S. and Susan Hudson (Farrar) Wood, 
was born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, February 7, 1857. At the age of 
twelve he began work in a printing-office 
in Winchendon, and with the exception 
of about five years spent in obtaining his 
education, he has been actively engaged 
in the printing business from that time. 
At an early age he became foreman in the 
newspaper and job office of the Franklin 
County Times at Greenfield, and later 
was engaged in offices in Fitchburg and 
Chicago. In 1878 he returned East and 
took charge of the job-printing estab- 
lishment of Edward R. Fiske, in Worces- 
ter, at that time one of the largest offices 
in the city. In 1880 he engaged with 
Sanford & Co., stationers and printers, 
as foreman of their printing department, 
and in 1882 purchased a half interest in 
this department, which was conducted 




OLIVER B. WOOD. 



The Worcester of 1898. 799 

under the name of Sanford & Wood until a few months later, when he 
became the sole owner, and has carried on the business alone to the present 
time. In 1S94, having outgrown the old quarters on Maple street, he 
removed to the commodious building at No. 50 Foster street, where his 
establishment occupies the entire second story. Law and mercantile 
printing is a specialty, and the work of his office has always maintained a 
high reputation for excellence and accuracy. 

Mr. Wood is connected with several Masonic, military, social and other 
bodies in Worcester, and has been president of the local Typothetae. In 
politics he is a Republican. He was married in 1881 to Jennie Chase Flagg 
of Grafton. They have had four children: Olive Marguerite, Roger 
Hamilton (died in infancy), Hamilton Brooks and Gladys Jeannette Wood. 

William Woodward,* son of Francis Gardnerand Mary (Phillips) Woodward, 
was born in Worcester October 23, 1856. He was educated in the public 
schools, graduating from the high school in 1874. The same yearhe entered 
the Central National Bank as clerk, and successively filled different positions 
in that institution until he was elected cashier in January, 1892. 

Mr. Woodward has been a constant student of financial and economic 
subjects, and for several years has contributed regularly to current financial 
literature, articles from his pen appearing from time to time in the Bankers' 
Magazine and the leading New York and Boston journals. He has published 
two monographs: the first, issued in 1S86, entitled ''Our Future Money," 
is a succinct presentation of suggestions regarding a proper basis for our 
paper currency, and of the relative merits of gold and silver as monetary 
standards; the second, "A History of Massachusetts Savings Banks," pub- 
lished in 1889, was favorably received as a contribution to our State history. 

Mr. Woodward is prominently identified with religious and benevolent 
activities of the city, and is a member of the Piedmont Congregational 
Church, in which he holds several official positions. He was for twenty 
years an officer or director of the Young Men's Christian Association, and 
its president for two years; he is president of the City Missionary Society, 
and treasurer of the Home for Aged Women. 

He is frequently called upon to speak on financial and literary topics, and 
his efforts are always well received and highly appreciated. 



* See portrait on page 37S. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Abercrombie, Daniel W., portrait, 17S: 
sketch, 

Aborn, James S. , portrait and sketch, 
53S- 

Academy, Worcester, 1 74-1 So; librarj-, 

Adams Hall, 

Agricultural Implements and Machiner}', 

Agricultural Society, land given to, 7S ; 
sketch, 

Agricultural Products of Worcester, 

Alden, George I. , portrait and sketch, 539- 

Aldrich, P. Emory, mayor 1S62; por- 
trait, 36 ; administration of, 

Allen, Charles A., portrait and sketch, 
540- 

Allen, Rev. George, 

Allen, Ethan, portrait and sketch, 541- 

Allen, George L. , portrait, 

Allen, Lamson, portrait and sketch, 546- 

Allen, William, portrait, 

Allen, William P., portrait, 

Allen Boiler Works, 

All Saints' Church, 

Almshouse, 21; new, 25, 

American Antiquarian Society, 222-224; 
librar>% 204- 

American Card Clothing Company, 46S- 

American Political Society, 

"Ancient Willow," poem, 

"Angel Gabriel," 

Aqueduct Corporation, 

Armory, 55; illustration, 

Art League, 

Art Museum, gift of, 74; illustration, 
232; sketch, 

Art Societ}-, 

Art Students' Club, 

Associated Charities, 

Athenaeum, Worcester County, 

Athy, Andrew, S2, 95; portrait and 
sketch, 54S 

Atlantic Cable Celebration, 

Auger, Louis L., portrait and sketch, 5 
"Aurora " Block. 



539 
217 
177 
5" 

225 
361 
540 



524 
29S 
241 



43S 



27S 
233 

234 
229 
233 



Back, John R. , portrait, 145; sketch. 
Bacon, Peter C, mayor 1S51-2; portrait, 

22; administration, 
Bailey, W. A., residence. 
Baker Lead Company, 
Baker, Peter, 

Baldwin, John S., portraitand sketch, 551 
Ball, Phinehas, mayor 1865; portrait, 

42; administration, 43; sketch, 
Bancroft Endowment F"und, 
Bangs Library, 
Bank Block, 

Banks, 363 

Barber, B. A., residence, 
Barnard, Lewis, portrait, 412; sketch, 
Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Companv, 
411 
Barrett, Thomas J., portrait. 141 ; sketch. 
Barton, William S. , portrait and sketch. 
Batchelder, George E., portrait and 

sketch , 
Batchelder, Frank R., poem, 163 

trait and sketch. 
Bates, Theodore C. , portraitand 

sketch, 
Bath-House, public. 
Bell. Broken, 
Bell Pond, 
Bemis, Merrick, portraitand sketch, 559- 
Benchley, Charles H. , portrait and sketch, 
Benchley, Edmund N., portrait and 

sketch. 
Benefactors of Worcester, 247- 

Beneficiary Organizations, 
Bent, Charles M., portrait, 37S; sketch, 
Benton, Thomas H., 
Betterment Act, 
Bi-centennial celebration, 
Bigelow Jlonument, 37, 

Bigelow, Horace H., gift of park laud, 
255, 352; portrait and sketch, 563 

Blackstone Canal, 17, 

Blake, George F. , Jr., portrait and 
sketch, 565 



146 



31* 
527 
527 
■554 



37» 
319 
556 

415 
142 
154 



por- 



41. 



2S1 
257 
272 
562 

79 
46 
63 
251 

-565 
442 



802 



The Worcester of 1898. 



Blake, James B., mayor 1S66-1S70; por- 
trait, 44; administration, 45; death, 49 
Board of Trade, 407-41" 

Boiler Manufacture, 523 

Bomb Explosion. 23 

Boot and Shoe Manufacture, 5i(J-5i8 

Boston Store, 420 

Boulevard, 46 

Bowker, John B. , portrait and sketch, 156 
Boyden, Elbridge, portrait and sketch, 

567-569 
Boynton, John, 19" 

Boynton, Charles D., gift of park, 256, 354 
Brady, John G., portrait and sketch, 157 
Braman, Dow & Co., 525 

Brannon, Henry, portrait, 142; sketch, 143 
Brewer & Company, 425-426 

Bridges, Steel, 73 

Brierly, Benjamin, portrait, 526 

Briggs, Gov. George N., 17 

Brigham, John Stillman, portrait and 

sketch, 4''>3-4S4 

Brown, Alzirus, portrait and sketch, 569-571 
Brown, Edwin, portrait and sketch, 570-573 
Brown, Freeman, portrait, 160; sketch, 159 
Brownell, George L. , portraits, 406, 572; 

sketch, 573 

Bryant, George C, residence, 357 

Bullock, Alexander H., mayor 1S59; ad- 
ministration, 31; portrait, 32; eulogy 
on Lincoln, 45 

Buckley, Thomas H., portrait, 525 

Bullock Medal Fund, 253 

Burial Grounds, on Common, 27; Rac- 
coon Plain, 30; Pine street, 39 
Burns, William H., portrait and sketch, 

574-576 
Burns, William H., Company, 515 

Burritt, Elihu, 227 

Burtis, George H. , residence, 443 

Butman Riot, 27 

Buttrick, Albert C, portrait and sketch, 

576-577 

Carpenter, Chas. H., portrait and sketch, 41S 
Carpets and Textiles, 4''7. 495 

Carroll, Clarence F., portrait, 16S; 

.sketch, 577. 579 

Catholicity in Worcester, 293 

Causeway over the Lake, 35 

Celebration, Atlantic cable, 31; nation's 

centennial, 57; bi-centennial, 63 

Centre School District, 21 

Central Bank, 3^7 

Central Church, 2S7 



Central Exchange Building, 375 

Cereal Machine Company, 51S-521 

Chamberlain, Robert H., portrait and 

sketch, 5 79- 5 So 

Chamberlin, Henry II., portrait and 

sketch, 57S-579 

Chapin, Henry, mayor i84g-'5i; por- 
trait and administration, 20; sketch, 580 
Charities, Public, 237-245 

Charter, city, revised, 46; new, 71; and 
Municipal Government by Mayor 
Dodge, 337-343 

Chase, Charles A., portrait, 362; sketch, 581 
Children's Friend Society, 243 

Choral Union Library, 215 

Citizens Bank, 367 

City Bank, 369; building, 377 

City, Bird's-eye Views, 210 

City Government, 1898, 139-153 

City Hall, old, 77-79; view of, 76: alter- 
ations in, 19-45; history of, 77-79 
City Hall, New, corner-stone, S3-93; 
contents of box, 89-90; dedication, 
93-iiS; description, iiS; cost, 99; 
west front, frontispiece ; east front, So 
City Missionary Society, 245 
City Officials, 1S9S, 153-162 
Clark, Jonas G., residence. 316; ])Dr- 

trait and sketch, 5S2-5S4 

Clark, William L. , portrait and sketch, 

584-5S6 
Clark Universit}' opened, 567; account 

of, 194-197; library, 217 

Clarke, J. H., & Co., 417-419 

Clarke, Josiah H., portrait, 416; sketch, 5S6 
Clubs, Social, 329 

Coates Clipper Manufacturing Co. , 50S-509 
Coes, Loring, portrait and sketch, 587-5S9 
Coes Wrench Company, 502-503 

Coffey, James C. , sketch, 159; portrait, 160 
College of the Holy Cross, 180-1S5; 

view, 182; library, 216 

Colvin, Caleb, portrait, 3S6 

Comins, Irving E., portrait, 406 

Commercial Interests, 411-434 

Commercial Street, 474 

Common, vote to remove railroad tracks, 
47; tracks removed, 59; removal of 
Old South Church, 65 

Connelly, John H., portrait, 145; 

sketch, 146 

Conrad, Rev. A. Z. , portrait, 284; 

sketch, 5S9 

Contagious Diseases, 350; hospital, 75 

Contractors, Worcester, 52S 



I 



The Worcester of li 



803 



Cooperative Banks, 

Corsets and Underwear, 512 

Court-House, view. 
Court Mills, 

Crane, Eller\- B., portrait, 262; sketch, 
Crompton, George, portrait, 466; anec- 
• dote, 

Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, 460, 
Curtis, Albert, 24S; portrait, 44S; 

sketch, 
Curtis Chapel, 256- 

Curtis & Marble JIachine Company, 475- 

Dale Hospital, 

l)am Burst, 

Davis. Edward L. , mayor 1S74; por- 
trait, 54: administration, 53; sketch, 
592; gift of parkland, 255, 352; an- 
ecdote, 

Davis, Isaac, mayor 1856, 1S5S, 1S61 ; 
portrait, 2S; administrations of, 29, 31, 
35; gift to hospital, 24S; sketch, 593; 
tendered gift of park, 

Davis, John, 

Davis Hall, 

Davis Tower, 

Death Rate, 

Debt of City, iS4S-'97, 75: in 1898, 

Dedication of new City Hall, 

Denholm, William A., portrait 
sketch, 

Denholm & McKay Company, 

Denominational Strength, 

Devens, Charles, 63; portrait, 

Dewey Charity Funds, 

Dewe)-, Francis H. , portraits, 374, 



513 
214 
443 
590 



467 
591 



H., portrait 



sketch, 
Dexter Hall, 
Dexter, William 

sketc.i. 
Diphtheria, 
1 )irectory Library, 
Diseases, 
Dispensaries, 
Dodge, Rufus B., Jr., 

acceptance of City 

sketch, 139; portrait, 140; chapter on 

City Charter, 337, 343 

Dodge, Thomas H., gift of park, 256; 

residence, 270; Willow park, portrait 

and sketch, 600-603 

Downey, Daniel, portrait and sketch, 

603-604 
Drainage, 347 

Draper, Edwin, portrait and sketch, 604-607 



3S 

7S 

175, 177 

13S 

349 

165 

93- I IS 

and 

595-97 

420 

291 

280 

253 

406; 

596 
177 
and 

597, 600 

350 

219 

350-351 

239 

mayor i89S-'99; 

Hall, 100-102; 



Draper, James, portrait and sketch, 607-608 
Draper Machine Tool Company, 499 

Drennan, James M., portrait and 

sketch, 160-161 

Duncan, Harlan P., portrait, 406 

Dwinnell, B. 1)., portrait, 3S6 

Eames, D. H., portrait and sketch, 423-425 
Earle, Edward, portrait, 48; adminis- 
tration, 51; sketch, 60S 
Earle, Stephen C. , portrait and sketch, 

609-610 
Earle, Timothy K. , portrait, 470; 

sketch , 610 

Eddy, Harrison P., portrait, 159 

Educational Institutions, 167-197 

Electric Light, first, 63: company, 403-405 
Electric Railways, 60, 395-399 

Elm Park, 27, 352 

Ely, L\-man A., portraits, 386, 406 

Employment Society, 243 

Envelope Industry, 47S-48 

" Evans" Apartment Block, 434, 43? 

Explosions, 23, 31, 49 

" Fairlawn," residence J. A. Norcross, 

697-699 

Facts of Interest, 360 

Fanning, David H., portrait and sketcli, 

611-613 

Farwell, James E., portrait and sketch, 
617; residence, 617 

Faj-erweather, J. A., portrait, 3S6 

Financial Institutions, 363-388 

Fire Department, 21, 30, 38, 41, 113, 
357; new- headquarters, 75: illustra- 
tion. 

Fire Engines, First Steam, 

Fire Insurance Companies, 

Fire Society, Worcester, 

Fires, 27 

First National Bank, 

First Parish Rights, 

Five Cents Savings Bank, 

Flodin, Ferdinand, portrait and sketch. 
614 

Fobes, Hiram, portrait and sketch, 615- 

Fobes, Mrs., residence, 

Forehand Arms Company, factory, 510; 
account. 

Forehand, Sullivan, portrait and sketch, 
6i8- 

Foster, Calvin, portrait, 370; sketch, 

Foster Street Extension, 

Franklin Building, 



336 
33 

3S0 
222 
. 55 
371 
65 
373 

-615 
-617 
323 



619 

619 

59 

328 



8o4 



The Worcester of 1898. 



Fraternal ( )rders, 267-274 

Free Public Library, foundation, 33; 

Sunday opening, 51; account of, 198- 

204; benefactions, 253 

Free Masons, 267 

Free-Soil Party, 79 

Frohsinn Club House, 33S 

(iabriel (see "Angel Gabriel"). 

(lage, iJr. Thomas II., portrait, 638 

Ciaskill, Francis A., portrait and sketch, 

620-621 
Gas Light Company, formation, 23; ac- 
count of, 402 
General Court, Worcester in, 259-265 
Gilbert, Lewis N., portrait, 386 
Gile, William A. , portrait and sketch, 

621-624 
(iill Benefaction, 248 

Globe Corset Company, 512-515 

Goodnow, Edward A., portrait, 368; 

sketch, 624 

Good Samaritan Societ}^, 244 

Gough, John B. , 79 

Gould, Rev. George H. , portrait and 

sketch, 627; residence, 629 

Goulding, Frank P., portrait, 122; ad- 
dress, 123, 131 
Grade Crossings, no, 395; law, 71 
Grand Ami)', 271, 275 
Grant, Charles E. , portrait and sketch, 

632-634 
(Sraton, Henry C, portrait and sketch, 

635-637 
Graton & Knight Manufacturing Co., 521 
Greeley, H. C, portrait, 386 

Green, Dr. John, gift of books, 33 ; bene- 
faction, 253; death and legacy, 45, 
253; portrait, 254 

Green, Samuel S. , portrait, 202; sketcli, 

631 : chapter on libraries, 199-219 

(Jreene, J. Evarts, portrait, 308; sketch, 

631 ; chapter on Post Office, 309-327 

Griffin, Rt. Rev. Thomas, prayer, 121 : 

portrait, 291 ; sketch, 637 

Grout, John William, portrait and 

sketch, 281 

Grout, Jonathan, portrait and sketch, 

636-638 
Guy Furniture Company, 430 

Had wen, Obadiah B. , portrait and 

sketch, 639-643 

Hahnemann Hospital, 239 

Hall, Frank B. , sketch, 144; portrait, 145 
Hall, G. Stanley, 196-197; portrait, 406 



Hammond, Andrew H., portrait and 

sketch, 643-645; residence, 447 

Hammond Bequest, 249 

Hammond Reed Company, factory, 52S 

Hard Times of 1857, .')34-535 

Harrington, Francis A., mayor 1890-92; 

administration, 67; portrait, 6S 

Harrington iS: Richardson Anns Co., 511-512 
Harris, Henry F. , portrait and sketch, 644-647 
Hartshorn, Calvin L. , portrait and 

sketch, 647-649 

Harwood & Quincy Machine Co. , 477-478 
Hawes, Russell L. , portrait and sketch, 

649-650; reference to inventions of, 533 
Health, Board of, 57, 108, 349 

Health, Public, 345-351 

Heath, Frank M., portrait and sketch, 146 
Ilealy, Richard, portrait, 379; sketch, 650-651 
Henshaw Pond, 30 

Hey wood Boot & Shoe Companv, 516-517 
Hey wood, Samuel R., portrait, 372; 

sketch, 651 

Higgins, E. G. , Company, 431-433 

Higgins, Frank E,, portrait and sketch, 433 
Highland Military Academj', 185-189; 

library, 217 

High School, buildings, 47, 173; Classi- 
cal, 170; library, 217; English, 69, 172; 
library, 217 

Highways (see .Streets), 10S-109 

Hildreth, Charles H. , 2d, portrait, 142; 

sketch, 143 

Hildreth, Samuel E. , mayor 1883; ad- 
ministration, 61; portrait, 62; sketch, 652 
" Hillside," summer residence W. T. 

Hogg, 491 

Historical Society, Worcester County, 222 
Hoar, George F., 45, 63; portrait, 312; 

sketch, 653 

Hobbs, Horace, portrait and sketch, 655 

Hogg, Wm. F. , portrait and .sketch, 489-490 
Hogg, Wm. J., portrait and sketch, 487-490 
Holmes, Grand Master E. B., 88, 91, 93 

Home Farm (see Almshouse), 241, 255 

Home for Aged Men, 241, 244 

Home for Aged Women, 241, 244 

Home, Temporary, and Day Nursery, 241 
Homer, Charles A., portrait and sketch, 423 
Homoeopathic Medical Library, 217 

Hope Cemetery (see Curtis Chapel), 25, 29 
Hopkins, William S. B., portrait, 130; 

address, 131-138; sketch, 655 

Horse Railroad Company, 39 

Horticultural Society, librar\', 213; ac- 
count of, 225 



The Worcester of i5 



805 



Hospital, City, gift of land for, and open- 
ing of, 51 ; new, 61 ; gifts to, 247; ac- 
count of, 237-239 
Hospital Libraries, 217 
Hospitals, 237, 239 
Howard, Albert H., portrait and sketch, 

473; factory, 472 

Howe, John W. , portrait and sketch, 660-661 
lUint, GeorgeC, portrait and sketch, 146-147 
Hunt, James, portrait and sketch, 146-147 
Hunt, Richard Morris, 81 

Huot, Napoleon P , portrait and sketch, 

142-143 
Hurlburt, George B., portrait and sketch, 156 
Hutchins, C. Henry, portraits, 406, 658; 

sketch, 657; residence, 659 

Hutchins, Fred L. , portrait and sketch, 162 

Industries of Worcester, 
Infectious Diseases, 

Inman, Albert H., portrait and sketch, 
147 
Institute Park, 256, 

Insurance Companies, 379- 

Isolation Hospital, 239, 

Jacques, Urgel, portrait and sketch, 661, 

Jail, illustration, 

Jaques Fund Commission, 

Jaques, George, offer of land, 47; gift of 

land, 51, 237, 247; portrait, 246; tablet, 
Jefferson, Martin V. B. , portrait and 

sketch, 662- 

Jillson, Clark, mayor 1873, 1875, 1S76; 

portrait, 52; administrations, 53, 55; 

sketch, 
Johnson, Fred D., portrait and sketch, 
147- 
Johnson, Hannibal A., portrait and 

sketch, 417- 

Jones, George, first city marshal, 21 

Kelley, Frank H., mayor 1880-1881 ; por- 
trait, 58; administration, 59; sketch, 666 
Kendall, Louis J., portrait and sketch, 147-14S 
Kendall, Sanford C. , portrait and sketch, 

148-149 
Kent, Charles F. , portrait, sketch and 

factory, 474-475 

Kent, Rev. George W. , portrait and 

sketch, 667 

Kettle Brook, 71 

King, Henry W. , portrait and sketch, 66S-669 
King, Homer, portrait and sketch, 671 

Kingsley, Chester W. , portrait and 

sketch, 670-672 



449 
350 



256 

663 

274 

57 

248 
664 

664 
1 48 
41S 



Kingsley Laboratories, 177 

Kinney, A. B. F., residence, 33S 

Knight, Henry A,, portrait and sketch, 

161-162 
Knight, Thomas E., portrait and sketch, 419 
Knights Templars, 271 

Knowles, Francis B. , portrait, 465 

Knowles, Lucius J., portrait, 464 

Knowles Maternity Ward, 249 

Knowles, Mrs. F. B., residence, 431 

Knowlton, John S. C, mayor 1853-1S54; 
portrait, 24: administration. 



Kossuth, Louis, 



25 
25. 79 

Lakeside Boat Club, 342 

Lamb, Matthew B. , portrait and sketch, 

673-674 
Lancaster, Frank E. , portrait and sketch, 

675-676 
Lancaster, JohnE., portrait andsketcli, 

677-679; residence, 677 

Land Recovered, 41 

Lapham, Fred A., residence, 317 

Law Library, 212 

Library (see Public Library). 
Library Building, corner-stone, 33 ; new, 69 
Life Insurance Companies, 381 

Lights, Street, 65 ; superintendent of, 69 

(See Electric Lights. ) 
Lincoln, Abraham, 79 

Lincoln, D. Waldo, mayor iS63-[S64; ad- 
ministration, 39; portrait, 40 
Lincoln, Edward Winslow, 352 
Lincoln, George, sketch, 2S0 
Lincoln, Levi, ma^-or 1848; portrait, iS; 

administration, 19 

Lincoln Park, 327 

Lind, Jenny, 79 

Logan, James, portraits, 406, 4S0 ; 

sketch, 4S0-482 

Logan, Swift & Brigham Envelope Com- 
pany, 47S-484 
Loom Manufacture, 460-469 
Lovers' Lane, 272 
Lunatic Hospital, view, 21S 
Lunch Wagons, 524-525 
148-149 
Lundberg, John F. , portrait and sketch, 
Lundborg, Andrew P. , portrait and 

sketch, 679 

Lynde Brook Dam, 57 

Macadamization, 45 

Maclnnes, John C. , portrait and sketch, 422 
Maclnnes, John C. , Company, 421-423 

Mackintire, George W., portrait, 406 



8o6 



The Worcester of 1898. 



Machinery and Tools, 495 

Mann, Albert G. , portrait and sketch, 679-681 
Manufacturing, Development of, 439-447 
Manufactures, 449-529 

Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance 

Company, 380 

Marble, Edwin T. , portrait and sketch, 

681-6S3 
Marble, John O. , portrait and sketch, 544-546 
Marble, J. Russel, portrait, 406 

Market, Free, 47 

Marsh, Henrj'A., may.ir 1S93-1S95; ad- 
ministration, 69; portrait, 70: sketch, 6S3 
Martyrs of Three Wars, 279-281 

Mathew, Father, 23 

Matthews Manufacturing Company, 50S 

McAleer, George, portrait, 379; sketch, 684 
McClure, Frederick A. , portrait and 

sketch, 1 58 

McCuUagh, Rev. Archibald, prayer, 96; 

portrait, 288; sketch, 685 

McMahon, Bernard H., portrait and 

sketch, 148 

Meagher, John H., portrait and sketch, 149 
Measles, 351 

Mechanics Association, library, 212; 

sketch, 227 

Mechanics Bank, 369 

Mechanics Hall, dedication, 30; view, 226 
Medical Society, Worcester District ; 

libraiy, 209-212; sketch, 225 

Mellen, James H. , portrait and sketch, 143 
Memorial Hospital, 239-240; Aid Society, 244 
Mendenhall, Thomas C. , portrait, 406 

Mercantile Agencies, 434 

Merchants and Farmers Fire Insurance 

Company, 380 

Men-iam, Henryr H., portrait and sketch, 

686-688 
Merrifield Buildings, 443 

Merrifield Fire, 27 

Merritt, Wesley, portrait and sketch, 149 
Metcalf, Caleb B. , 1S5 

Miller, Rev. Rodney A., 19 

Military Hi.stories, 275 

Military Matters, 275-283 

Mix, Rev. Eldridge, portrait and sketch, 688 
Moen, Philip L. , portrait, 458; sketch, 689 
Moir, Alexander J., portrait and sketch, 423 
Monahan, Thomas, portrait and sketch, 162 
Money Order System, 313 

Morgan, Charles H. , portrait and sketch, 

689-691 
Morgan Construction Company, 503-504 

Morgan Spring Company, 504-505 



Mortuaiy Table, 349 

Municipal Departments, 345-358 

Municipal Goveniment, 337-344 

Mimroe, Alexander C. , portrait and 

sketch, 691-694; residence, 693 

Munroe, John P., portrait and sketch, 695 
Musical Association, library-, 215; sketch, 229 
Musical Instruments, 528 

Mutual Fire Insurance Company, 385-386 
IMycological Society, 235 

Natural History Society, 217, 227 

New Common Purchased, 27 

Newspapers, 331-335 

" Nobility Hill" Removed, 49 

Norcross, James A., portrait and sketch, 

695-700; residence, 697-699 

Norcross, Orlando W. , portrait and 

sketch, 700-703 

Normal School, State, 192-195; library, 217 
Norton Emery Wheel Company, 500-501 

Nourse, AVilliam J. H., portrait and 

sketch, ■ 703-705 

Nurses' Home, 75, 239, 251-252 

O'Conncll, David F., portrait and 

sketch, 143-144 

O'Connell, Philip J., portrait and 

sketch, 149-150 

Odd Fellows, 268, 273 

" Old Farmers' Almanac," origin. 
Old Mill, Institute Park, 361 

Old South Meeting-House, centennial, 

41; buildings removed, 65; view, 76; 

account of, 77 

Old South Church, 286 

Ordinances, Revi.sed, 61,73 

Orphans' Homes, 243 

Ornithological Club, Ridgway, 235 

Otis, Harrison G., portrait and sketch, 

154-155 
Otis, John C. , portrait and sketch, 705-706 
Otis, John P. K. , portrait, 506; sketch, 706 
Outfall Sewer, 348 

Paine, Nathaniel, portrait. 220; sketch, 707 
Paine, Dr. William, gift tendered, 78 

Panic Years, 30, 35, 53 

Paper-Making Machinery, 5 1 1 

Park Act, 353 

Park Avenue-, 46, 53, 55 

Parker, Amos M. , porti-ait and sketch, 155 
Parker, Edmund L. , portrait and sketch, 

707-708 
Parker, Henry L. . portrait, 236: sketch, 709 



The Worcester of n 



80; 



Parks Commission. 63, 112; loan, 65: 

system, 6j, 351-353 

Parks Opened, 67 

Parmelee, A. W. , portrait, 406 

Passenger Trains, 393 

Paving of Streets, no 

Peabody, Charles A., portrait, 266; 

sketch, 709-710 

Peck, Charles H., portrait and sketch, 159 
Penne)', Rev. Frank D., portrait and 

sketch, 710-71 1 

People's Savings Bank, 376 

Perky, Henry D., 520 

Perry, Frank D., portrait and sketch, 

711-713. 715 
Perr)-, Joseph S., portrait and sketch, 

714. 715. 7<7 
Phelps, Willis F. , portrait and sketch, 429 
Pickett, Josiah, portrait and sketch, 

716, 717, 719 
Piedmont Church, 294 

Pierce, E. S. , residence, 394 

Pilgrim Church, 296 

Pine Meadow Sewer, 61, 63 

Pinkerton, Alfred S. , portrait and sketch, 

715, 719, 720 
Piper, Mrs. Nancy S. , residence, 322 
Plummer, Osgood, 535 
Plymouth Church, 294 
Police Department, 355 ; headquarters, 

65 ; Relief Association, 355 ; force, 

38, 46, 53 
Police, Mounted, 57 

Policeman, First, 21, 355 

Polytechnic Institute, opening, 46, 67 ; 

account of, 189-191; view, iSS 

Poor Department, 114 

Population in 1825,17; during fifty years, 75 
Post Office Growth, ' ' 309 

Potter, Burton W. , address, 102-117; 

portrait and sketch, 141 ; residence, 324 
Powell, Albert M., portrait and sketch, 

150-151 
Pratt, Charles B. , mayor i877-'79; ad- 
ministration, 57; portrait, 56; sketch, 

720-721 
Pratt, Heniy S. , portrait and sketch, 

721-723 
Pratt, Sumner, portrait and sketch, 724-725 
Prentice, Harrison S. , 8z ; portrait, 344 ; 

sketch, 725 

Press, The, 331-335 

Press, Daily, 53 

Prior, Wright vS. , portrait and sketch, 158 
Property in 1898, 359 



Page. 
Protestant Churches, 2S5-291 

Public Libraries, 198-219 

Public Service, 389-405 

Purification Works, 69 

Putnam, Otis E., portrait, 414; sketch, 726 



Quinsigamond Bank, 
Ouinsigamond Lake, Lincoln Park, 



3"7 
32S 



Railroad Men's Association, 394 

Railroad Station, 55, 390 

Railroad, stock subscribed for, 47 ; tracks 

removed, 47, 59 

Railroads, Electric, 395-399 

Railroads, Steam, 17, 47, 53, 59, 3S9-395 

Railway's, Street, 29, 67 

Raymond, Edward T., portrait and 

sketch, 726-727 

Reading Room Fund, 45, 253 

Rebellion, opening of, 35 ; end of, 43; 

cost of, 43. (See Militarj' Matters. ) 
Records of Worcester, 231 

Red Men, 274 

Reed, Charles G., mayor i8S4-'85; ad- 
ministration, 63; portrait, 64, 406; 
sketch, 727 

Reed, F. E. , Company, 495-497 

Regatta, 119 

Relief Funds, 257 

Rice, William W. , mayor 1S60; admin- 
istration, 33; portrait, 34; sketch, 72S 
Richardson, Charles A., portrait and 

sketch, 730-731 

Richardson, Charles O., portrait and 

sketch, 732-733 

Richardson, George W. , mayor 1855, 

1857; administrations, 27, 30; portrait, 26 
Rivard, John, portrait and sketch, 150-151 
Roe, Alfred S. , portrait, 258; sketch, 733 
Rogers, Thomas M. , portrait and sketch, 

734-735 
Royal Arcanum, 273 

Rugg, Arthur P., portrait and sketch, 154 
Rugg, Charles F. , portrait and sketch, 737 
Russell, Edward J., portrait and sketch, 

143-144 
Russell, John M., portrait and sketch, 

737-739 
Ryan, James F. , portrait and sketch, 151 

Safe Deposit Companies, 377, 536 

Salisbur)' Bequest, 24S 

Salisbu]-)- Laboratories, 67, 191 

Salisbury', Stephen, 2d, portrait, 364; 

sketch, 739 



8o8 



The Worcester of i8c 



Salisbury, Stephen, 3d, portrait, 366; 

sketch, 740 

Sargent Bequest, 249 

Savings Banks, ' 371-373 

Sawin, E. T., residence, 410 

Sawyer, Ezra, portrait and sketcli, 741 

Sawyer, Stephen, portrait, 3S6 

Sawyer, William H., 82: address at 

dedication of new City Hall, 97-199; 

portraits, 98, 406; sketch, 741 

Saxe, James A., portrait and sketch, 743 

Scarlet Fever, 350 

Schen-ee, Herman, portrait and sketch, 

743-745 
School Committee, 30 

School-Houses, Dix street, 46; Lamar- 
tine street, 46; Thomas street, 61, 
Winslow street, 59 

Schools, Private, 197 

Schools, Public, 103-104; 167-174: statis- 
tics, ,73 
Seal of the City, 165 
Secret Societies, 267-274 
Semi-Centennial Celebration, 1 19-138 
Sewage Pollution, 61; purification act, 

65; disposal, 107; plant, 346; works, 348 
Sewerage System, 49, 59, 347 

Sewers, Pine Meadow, 61, 63; tmnk in 

vSutton lane, 67 

Shade Trees and Public Grounds Com- 
mission, 38. (See Parks Commission. ) 
Shattuck, Moody E. , portrait and sketch, 745 
Shaw Bequest, 248 

Shaw, Joseph A. , portrait, 1S7; sketch, 747 
Shea, John F., portrait and sketch, 151 

Sherman Envelope Company, 487 

Small- Pox, 53, 351 

Smith, Elliott T. , portrait and sketch, 747-749 
Smith, E. T. , Company, 429-430 

Smith, Jesse, portrait and sketch, 749-750 
Smith, William A., portrait and sketch, 

751-752 
Social Clubs, 329 

Societies, 221-235 

Soldiers' Monument, 49, 252, 276 

Spanish War, 277 

Spaulding, Albert A. , portrait and 

sketch, 422 

Special Delivery, P. O. , 313 

Spofford, Harriet Prescott, poem, "An- 
cient Willow," 43S 
Sprague, Augustus K. R., mayor 1896- 
'97; administration, 73: jjortrait, 72: 
sketch, 752; address at laying t)f cor- 
ner-stone new City Hall, 85-88 



Page. 
Squier, Charles E., portrait, 406 

Staples, Hamilton B. , portrait and 

sketch, 755 

Starr, William B. , portrait and sketch, 

756-759 
State Mutual Life Assurance Company, 

38 1 ; building, 3S2 

State Normal School, 192 

Statistics, 1S48-1S97, 75; manufacturing, 

1837-1895, 449-455 

Steam Roller, First, 63 

Stebbins, Rev. Calvin, prayer, S3-84 

Stevens, Charles F. , portrait and sketch, 
758-759; "Aurora" block, 432; resi- 
dence, 760 
Stoddard, Elijah B. , mayor 1882, ad- 
ministration, 61 ; portrait, 60 
Stoddard, Man- E. D., gift to City Hos- 
pital, 249 
Stone, A. M. , portrait, 406 
Stoneville Worsted Mills, 488 
Street Railways, 39, 67; electric, 69, 395-399 
Streets, 356 
St. John's Roman Catholic Church, 302 
St. Matthew's Protestant Episcopal 

Church, 299 

St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church, 304 

St. Peter's Roman Cathohc Church, 305 

St. Vincent's Hospital, 239; \new of 

building, 242 

St. Wulstan Society, 233 

Suburban Railways, 398 

Sumner, George, portrait, 413; sketch, 760 
Swedes, First, 47 

Swift, Henry D. and 1). Wheeler, por- 
traits and sketches, 48 1-483 

Tabcr, Jesse P., portrait and sketch, 

761; residence, 7S0 

Tatman , Charles T. , portrait and sketch , 763 
Tatman, R. James, portrait and sketch, 

762-763 
Tatnuck Brook Water, 763 

Taxation in 1898, 359 

Tax Rate, Low, 69; from 1848 to 1897, 

75; in 1S98, 359 

Taylor, Ransom C, portrait and sketch, 

765-767 
Telegram Newspaper, 65, 334 

Telephone Exchange, 399 

Tenney Bequest, 248 

Textiles (see Carpets), 495 

Thackeray, William M. , 79 

Thayer, Edward C. . portrait, 250; gift 
of Nurses' Home, 251-252; sketch, 767 



The Worcester of 1898. 



809 



Tliayer, Eli, 79; portrait and sketcli, 768-771 
Thayer, John R., portrait and sketch, 

771-775 
Thomas, Benjamin F., I7> '9. 57 

Thomas, Isaiah, gifts to town, 253 

Thomas, Robert B., anecdote, 791 

Tliompson, Albert M., portrait and 

sketcli, 144 

Timon, James F., portrait and sketch, 

151-152 
Towne, Enoch H., portrait and sketch, 153 
Town Hall, sketch of, 77 

Trust Funds, City, 247-257 

Turner, Charles S. , portrait and sketch, 

774-775 

Union Church, 290 

Union Passenger Station, 55, 390 

Union Water Meter Company, 505-507 

Unitarian Church, South, 300 

Upham, Roger F., portraits, 386,406, 
776; sketch, 775 

Valuation in 1825, 17; in 1850, 17; from 

184810 1897, 75; in 1898, 359 

Vaudreuil, Joseph G. , portrait and sketch, 777 
Vaughan, Charles A., portrait and 

sketch, 778 

Verry, George F., mayor 1872; admin- 
istration, 51 ; portrait, 50 
Veto Power of Mayor, 53 
Viaduct, 57, 59 
Vital Statistics, 351 
Volunteers in the Rebellion, 37 
Voters of 1848, 94 

Wachusett Club House, 348 

Walker, Joseph H., portrait, 314; sketch, 77S 
Wall, Caleb A., portrait, 332; notice of, 333 
Wall, George F., portrait and sketch, 152 
Ward, George H., portrait, 282 

Warden, William A., portrait puBsketch, 427 
Warden & Phelps, 427 

Ware, Justin A., portrait, 406 

Warren, Frederick, death of, 3 1 

Warren, John K., portrait and sketch, 

781-783 
Washburn, Charles F., portrait, 459: 

sketch, 780 

Washburn, Charles G., portrait, 440; 

sketch, 779 

Washburn, Ichabod, 241 

Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Com- 
pany, 456-460 
Washington Club House, 340 



Water and Sewer Department Building, 46 
Water Supply, 21, 30, 106; failure, 71 

Water Works, 43, 59, 345 

Webb, George D., portrait and sketch, 

7S4-785 
Webster, Charles S. , portrait and sketch, 783 
Webster, Daniel, 77 

Welcome Mission, 243 

Wellington, Fred W. , portrait and 

sketch, 786-787 

Wesby, Joseph S. , portrait and sketch, 

791-792 
Wheelock, Jerome, portrait and sketch, 

788-789 
Whitaker, John, portrait and sketch, 793-794 
Whitcomb, Alonzo, portrait and sketch, 

497-49S 
Whitcomb Envelope Company, 484-4S5 

Whitcomb, G. Henry, residence, 392 

Whitin, A. F., portrait, 3S6 

White, Frederick W. , portrait and sketch, 1 52 
Whittall, Matthew J. , portraits, 406, 494 ; 

sketch, 493-495 

Whittle, James H., factory, 527 

Wilder, Harvey B. , portrait and sketch, 794 
Williamson, Frank E. , portrait and 

sketch, 153 

Willow Park, 436-43S 

Winslow, Samuel, mayor 1886-1S89: ad- 
ministration, 65 : portrait, 66; sketch, 795 
Winslow Surgeiy, 75, 249 

Wire Manufacture, 457-640 

Wood, Cyrus G. , portrait and sketch, 795-796 
Wood, E. H. , portrait and sketch, 797-798 
Wood, Oliver B. , portrait and sketch, 798 
Woodward, William, portrait, 378 ; 

sketch, 799 

Worcester Academy, 1 74-1 So; view of, 176 
Worcester Bank, 363 

Worcester Boiler Works, 523-524 

Worcester Continentals, 277 

Worcester Corset Company's factory, 513 
Worcester Polj'technic Institute, 189-igi 

Worcester Safe Deposit & Trust Com- 
pany, 377; origin, 536 
Worcester Society of Antiquity, library, 

215; sketch and building, 230-231 

Worcester Steam Heating Company, 526 
Wyman & Gordon, 524 

Young Men's Christian Association, 
building, 306 

Young Women's Christian Association, 
243 ; building, 307 



